Through the lofty and gliding indie swirl of debut album, ‘Vehicles And Animals’ , Charlatan Athletic lovers and world gazing troupe of Athlete, set down their intention to inform, entertain and sooth. They achieved this largely through their jangling guitars, steadfast percussion and Joel Pott’s falsetto that is delivered via reaching and relaxing vocal stride. This unsurprisingly, found favour with the Night Swimmers, when they opened for REM at the outset of their musical climb.
Now they look back upon all this through the expanding and third album territory introducing single, ‘Tokyo’. It is a slow building and reflective pour out of tender appreciation towards a significant other. The song is piercing, poignant and most importantly sincere. It represents a thinning out of the flashing guitar led approach and Pott’s vocals drop down in tone to filter through a haunting and haunted echo. Athlete is growing in thoughtfulness and, as a result they lack in instant catchiness, but retain a quality that means they will grow on you with time, like a lost dog.
