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The tried and tested piano led romp along, as executed in ?Ashes? on the
previous album, appears to be the order of the Embrace formula these days. Gone
are the long drawn out build-ups which arrive in good time at destination,
BIG-ALL-OUT-CHORUS. The aim now is a gallop at great pace to the chorus-line, in
order to reach the optimum state of anthem as soon as possible.
Album number five in the topsy-turvy career of Yorkshire?s indie Trojans carries
with it a certain whiff of Carpe Diem and rightly so, given the fortunes the
band experienced on the back of the St Chris Martin penned ?Gravity? on the
previous run out of the big choon choo-choo train, the band have ridden the
crest of the wave named ?impetus? and come back strong with another LP.
?This New Day? is a bold and brash affair, with the exception for ?I
Can?t Come Down?, a gorgeous string laden piece of reflection, there is
noticeably less of the ballad side of things as favoured on their earlier
albums, let?s face it, there will never be another ?Retread?, ?Drawn From
Memory? etc, that?s the old Embrace, things change, accept that, shed a tear and
move on. It would be easy to say this is their most U2 sounding album yet, but
the wavy guitar sounds that nonchalantly hang around without taking the lead are
there for all to hear. Big and Expansive and nothing sub three minutes.
?No Use Crying? as an album opener is immediate and compacted with
pounding rhythm section and washes of guitar and jump-on-the-notes piano chords.
The title of this track alone, if found on any previous album would
automatically suggest it was an overly emotional and demure yet epic ballad.
This is music to accompany photos and TV sequences of lens flared shots of
sunrises and vistas across vast landscapes, each one awash with atmospheric
swirls of soulful anthems filling the gaps where the visual representation can?t
quite reach.
The song writing credits are now a shared affair between all band members,
compared to the McNamara/McNamara partnership that churned out hit after miss
over the years that never saw the recognition for Embrace?s trade rise above
indie mediocrity and only allowed them to achieve, Gomez or Gay Dad levels of
cult appreciation. Subsequently, they may have lost a hardcore section of fans
with this new Coldplay style stadium sound but acceptance from the whole rather
than the few is what Danny McNamara has craved for sometime now. To think all it
took were some singing lessons?
?Exploding Machines? is a typical print of the Embrace doing a Coldplay
style slow verse-frenzied chorus style tune. Richard McNamara offering up
anything Johnny Buckland can do; guitar bursting through with little trills of
suggestive nuances, with support from the orchestral swirls rising to the
crescendo of the chorus. This is brazen and rich and commercially viable as a
single.
Altogether, Embrace have diversified, matured and learnt to sing. As a result,
we have an album of predominantly memorable slices of indie anthems which will
ring out around the main stages of the festival circuit this summer, much to the
approval of indie music lovers who couldn?t care either way as to whether they
are fans of Embrace. For the hardcore, instilled is a feeling of dejection, like
you have lost a long term and faithful companion and you are ultimately left
with no option but to move on and accept that these things happen, whilst
retaining a sense of ?the boys have done well?.
(7/10)
Reviewed
by James Ainsworth
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