Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Music Review: Athlete - Tourist



Athlete's debut album was more Britpop than Britrock. Think Blur or Snow Patrol and you will know what I mean. Hardly worth a Mercury Prize nomination if you ask me.

Tourist
aims to rectify that...a little bit. The first few tracks are the best. The first one Chances which features strings by a London Orchestra is very mellow, melodic and very easy listening. In fact most of the album follow what started of with Chances, not as in mellow but the experimentation by the band. The sixth, If I Found Out features a gospel choir for god's sake! Don't experiment for the sake of experimenting.

The album requires a couple of seating. I had to listen to this twice while on the bus today in order to concentrate. Serious. The second track
Half Light is catchy, almost like Radiohead colliding with Deepest Blue. Most of the album is very Coldplay. Now that it is a bad thing, it all depends on your taste of music. This might be alright during a nice BBQ day but its not something I fancy listening to regularly.

5/10

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the album, actually - the first few songs got me hooked. But yeah, it took me a a few more listenings to like it (probably it grows in you, slowly). I don't have Vehicles and Animals, though...

I would rate it 6.5 over 10. ;)

Jon Choo said...

Well today I tried to listen to it again in the bus. I can 'get' the first two but I always find myself skipping the tracks until I find myself into another album. I have no patience!!