From what I can gather,THE DOWNFALL are a tight, guitar-based indie trio from Leeds, and "Atrofeed" (very funny) is their second release: a six-track, self-released EP/ mini- album dating from the spring of 2003, presumably mostly for sale at gigs and from the band's website.
Whatever, it's a decent enough listen.The Downfall comprise three young geezers, Dunk Bray (guitar/ vocals), Dan Westbrooke (bass) and drummer JP Robinson. The six tracks here (well, seven if you include the fairly nondescript "Intro") are good-quality, mid-fi studio recordings, showing The Downfall to be a lively power trio of the indie, minor-chord variety, with nods to both early, tricksier Therapy? and especially early, wired Placebo - with considerably less of the androgyny, like.
Initially, it took me a little time to warm to them. Both "Flux" and "Swandive" are well-performed, stinging and angsty tracks, but with perhaps not enough focus and very little in the way of choruses to stand out. OK, but a bit ho-hum.
Things get more interesting with "Seven Seconds", though, with The Downfall displaying their own positive take on the patented Nirvana-ish quiet/loud dynamic and piling on plenty in the way of intrigue all their own. It seethes, it slows down, it builds again and both Dunk's plaintive vocals and JP's expressive drums star in an impressive cascade of a track.
The broiling tension of "Mourning All Night" confirms the good impression. All the band are cooking, with Dan's twangy basslines perhaps grabbing the top marks and the track really stretching out in terms of ambition. This is arguably the best track here, although "Headown" also has its' moments. For one thing, it comes roaring out of the traps and later on intrigues when it slips into a cool, post-punk disco coda.
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So, yeah,The Downfall certainly have potential and I'd recommend "Atrofeed" - with a few reservations. After all, however well they work as a unit, they are a bit short of memorable choruses and with songs like the closing "Problem #1" they can be a bit too derivative. Indeed, apart from Bray's impassioned vocal, this track really could be straight off Placebo's eponymous debut, and that's no way to sign off.
Still, "Atrofeed" is now almost a year old, so let's hope we get to hear more from a band who've forged a stronger identity of their own. As I write, there's talk of a debut full-length album on a new label, and certainly the songs they've laid down here suggest they have the talent to ceate something memorable.
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