‘Be Your Alibi’ is the eagerly awaited debut album from Reading quintet The Race, due to be released on Shifty Disco. Building on their already strong reputation of putting on emphatic and energetic live performances, the album acts to underline and cement the band's dedication to their music. Overflowing with punctual indie pop that draws from a whole host of audible influences including Coldplay and The Cure.
Reassuringly the album starts with one of their catchiest numbers to date in the form of ‘Find Out’, which mixes a delicate yet immediate vocal with building frenzied guitar hooks and stabs. And it’s a good job ‘Find Out’ comes first as it’s no nonsense, powerful, stunning sincerity leaves you compelled to stay listening for more. So far so good and the rest follows rather nicely, not to a predictable formula where each song bleeds annoyingly into the next, but with enough variation to keep the interest levels up.
The basic concept of ‘Be Your Alibi’ is tried and tested good old indie pop rock. But what set’s The Race apart from a lot of wannabe’s is that they’ve taken this basic formula and tailored it to their own needs and strengths and at no point are content to sit back and let it do all the work for them. Prime examples of these indie club floor fillers are ‘Comfort, Comfort’ and the Bloc Party esque ‘Tom Song’ that, like the rest, contains enough musical backing to propel each track, whilst at the same time allowing the vocals to breathe. The heavy influence of Coldplay and The Cure complete with dream like impassioned and pleading vocals are undoubtedly a big and important part of The Race, or so it would seem listening to the album. ‘When It Fall’s’, ‘Smile’, ‘Wash Out’ and the beautiful ‘Amersham Road’ are all testament to this fact and it’s nice to hear The Cure resurface in a different guise and the sensibilities of Chris Martin, minus the smugness, utilised. It’s also interesting to hear ‘So Young So Beautiful’ taking a distinctive hat off nod towards Robert Smith’s ‘Boys Don’t Cry’.
|
For a new young band, ‘Be Your Alibi’ is a surprisingly personal account of, well, what else but love and life. The constant running themes of heartfelt urgency work perfectly on the understanding that The Race don’t pretend to be anything other than what they are. The pounding bass throughout ‘Go Figure’ locks you into a dark nighttime scene where the only illumination comes from a full but cloudy moon. Conversely, ‘Research’ is a more obvious heart-rending love song. Slow, pained, impassioned but with the same consistent formulaic signature indie guitar backing that makes the album what it is. ‘Raising Children’ follows with a similar premise bridging the gap between melancholy drudgery and indie pop.
All in all this a sparkling album full to the brim of home grown talent nurtured through their formative years by music that has meant more than a lot to them and it stands the album in good stead. Bring on album number two, it can only be bigger, better and brighter.
|
