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The Research - Breaking Up
Released: 27th February 2006
Label: At Large Recordings
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If you grew up in the 80s, chances are you knew a kid (usually fat for some reason) with a Casio keyboard and the belief it'd make him a star like Van Halen or Bronski Beat, depending on his taste that week. You'd have put money on him landing on the moon before landing a number one with that glorified doorbell.
So, close to thirty years later, someone making waves in the Indie-Pop market with a cheap keyboard seems as feasible as the return of the Sinclair C5.
Or does it?
Presenting the findings of The Research - a Wakefield band of boy, two girls, a £9 keyboard from Cash Converters, and sheer song-writing brilliance. The band's debut album is 'Breaking Up' and it's a lesson in musicianship, as it is a blow by blow account of...well, breaking up.
It's Prefab Sprout colliding with The Streets in a heap of deceptive simplicity. Basically it shouldn't bloody work, especially when you consider Russell (singer/songwriter and self-confessed abuser of keyboards,) plays live gigs with the keyboard on his lap, but it does.
'Breaking Up' is refreshingly honest. Take a listen to 'I Love You, But...' and you'll know what I'm talking about. Any song that features a chorus of 'I love you, but I'm scared I'll fuck it up' is worthy of praise. Pity the language will no doubt keep this track off the airwaves but there's plenty of material here to take its place – like 'C'mon Chameleon,' a noisy pop number that smacks of the Beach Boys (one of Russell's heroes) especially on the beautifully constructed harmonies in the chorus.
After 'We've Got Something' I found myself expecting a crap tune somewhere along the line as if this was the record company's idea of a joke, but it's good stuff. Even 'Lonely Hearts' (their first single) is sincere despite the fact it pales alongside other tracks on the album.
'Breaking Up' closes with 'Splitting Hairs' – a quietly beautiful track about the last moments of a relationship. Russell stops abusing his keyboard long enough to join Sarah and Georgia in this fine acapella conclusion to a damn fine debut album.
You can give an average songwriter the best musical instrument in the world and he might entertain you. Give a piece of shit to a genuinely talented muso and he'll blow you away.
That's The Research – that's 'Breaking Up.'
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