- Bo Bruce – Save Me (Mercury) 4/5
Probably best known for coming second on BBC One’s first series of ‘The Voice,’ Bo Bruce (now signed to Mercury) this week releases debut album ‘Before I Sleep.’
Alongside this LP, comes single ‘Save Me;’ a pulchritudinous ballad with an equally alluring video.
So can we please all forget about the whole ‘did they, didn’t they’ thing with Danny from The Script? – Good!
- HIM – Tears On Tape (DoubleCross) 3.5/5
At school, my mate Ellen was absolutely infatuated with HIM frontman Ville Valo; feel free to take this up with her on Twitter – she could use some more followers!
Anyway, the band as a whole are now onto their 8th studio album (also entitled ‘Tears On Tape’) and are still encountering debate as to which genre they actually belong; are they rock? are they metal? who cares?!
Not the best offering from the Finnish 5-piece, but I expect that there’s still plenty of life left in ‘His Infernal Majesty.’
- Lower Than Atlantis – Something Better Came Along (Island) 4.5/5
On the scene since 2007, punk rock 4-piece Lower Than Atlantis received a mixed response to 3rd album ‘Changing Tune,’ which came out in October of last year.
The concept for the video to ‘Something Better Came Along’ (shot on a tube train) is far from original, but the track itself is actually refreshingly good.
Having just wrapped-up the ‘Fuck It To The Man’ UK tour, you can nonetheless catch the band at Reading + Leeds in the summer.
- Palma Violets – We Found Love (Rough Trade) 3/5
Part of the tri-factor of Indie hype alongside Swim Deep and Peace, Londoners ‘Palma Violets’ have yet (unlike the other two) to feature on this blog – lets change that shall we?!
Rihanna famously “found love in a hopeless place,” and judging by the less than glamourous location for PV’s ‘We Found Love’ video, they are not doing much better!
Even though the band’s debut album ‘180’ reached a respectable #11 a couple of months ago, I actually prefer Peace’s ‘In Love’…
- The Pastels – Check My Heart (Domino) 2.5/5
Next month, long-time alt rockers The Pastels release ‘Slow Summits,’ which will be their 5th studio album and the first since 1997’s ‘Illuminati.’
‘Check My Heart’ is the first track to be taken from the forthcoming LP; I can’t say that I’m that impressed, but will reserve judgement until I am able to hear the full offering.
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