The Features are a four piece from Sparta, Tennessee and this is their follow up to the limited edition EP ‘The Beginning’. Although hailing from the southern end of America only a lazy reviewer would lump them in with Kings of Leon (and you won’t find any lazy reviewers around here, oh no). Nope, The Features have more in common with the hook laden garage rock that Detroit is famous for.
‘The Way it’s Meant to Be’ clocks in at a smidgen over two minutes and is a muscular bugger driven along by hand claps and buzzing guitar. The vocals perch on the edge of madness, breathless through animal lust. ‘Gonna take you by the hand / so I make you understand / take you everywhere I go / teach you everything I know’ cries vocalist Matt Pelham shortly before being carted away on stalking charges. Short, to the point, slightly unnerving. What more do you want from a record?
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They back this up with two more songs. ‘Someway, Somehow’ brings the pace down slightly and revolves around a marvellous swirling organ refrain that brings to mind the Inspiral Carpets of all people (but in a good way). Final track ‘Buffalo Head’ is the weakest of the three and reverses the quiet / loud dynamic by having shouty verses and quieter choruses. This novel approach doesn’t entirely work but it’s still a fair distance from poor.
On the evidence of this single The Features are a notch above your average garage rock band and it will be interesting to see how they develop from this point on. It would be a fair bet that you will hear more about The Features.
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