I remember the first time I saw New Rhodes on TV, we had MTV piped into our bedroom (oh those were the days) and the video came on and I thought he had the most Morrissey-esque voice. It was like a mini Moz, crossed with a bit of Pulp. I very much enjoyed their debut album and saw them live a couple of times, and liked them lots, especially the really giddily happy bass/and or guitar player (I can't remember which but he looked like all his dreams had just come true up on that stage)
They did make me feel about 100 years old because they looked so young but that's not their fault.
I didn't even know they had a new album out, I'm so out of the loop these days, but I read a student newspaper this week and it had a (bad) review of it in. It also had an article about how Morrissey wasn't as good anymore, so zzzzzzzzzzz.
Anyway, I digress. It's weird, the singers voice seems to have changed a bit, maybe it's matured, or they messed with it in the studio. Eithr way, they still sound lovely and poppy. I love the way he sings, and I love the energy of the band, they sound really fresh. The opening track is excellent. I love their lyrics too, they are cute and poignant, a bit like Emmy. I suppose it is retrospective, but it's putting a different slant on the old Britpop days.
Not sure about the song The Bells of St John where they go a bit maudlin. I liked A&E, the repetitive end part is really good. I always like songs about hospitals; Accident and Emergency by Patrick Wolf and Take Me to the Hospital by The Faint being trendsetters in that department.
I also very much like Is This The Life That You Want?' What a great title. 254 is about fancying someone on the bus. And why not? You Can Have It All ends the album nicely. There are no tracks that stand out as much as I Wish I Was You or You've Given Me Something I Can't Give Back but on the whole I thought the album was really catchy and enjoyable, and I think it might be a grower, too.
Do all the songs sound a bit similar? Yes. But there's no real bad ones, so who cares?
New Rhodes make me feel young. They can put that on the advert.
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