After hearing so much praise about Athlete, receiving this album through the letterbox gave me great delight. Sadly after listening to it the many times that I did, my delight began to sink.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to automatically dismiss this album the minute I hear it, and I wont. I think Athlete are an amazing four-piece with a very special sound that can soothe and relax even the most manic of minds…but they just don’t do it for me.
When listening to albums, I often feel that the group I am listening to do not do their albums justice by releasing the songs that they do. For me track two “Half Light” was the highlight of this album and I would’ve liked this one to be released instead of “Wires”. I like the fact that the song has a different texture than most and how the structure of the song differs to the others on the album. The “space age” sounds in the background also caught my attention. For the times that I listened to this album I told myself I had to listen to it all, this didn’t happen and I rarely got past track four which was “Trading Air” which I also thought was a killer tune. These where the only songs really that got my hands tapping on the steering wheel and my foot gently tapping the clutch! The others relaxed me a little too much for driving, which is mostly when I listen to music. I found myself gently swaying over to the hard shoulder when listening to “Chances” as my eyes struggled to stay open. Only kidding!
With a melancholic sound that could well be compared to Coldplay or even Damian Rice I do feel Athlete are at the top of the leader board and are set for even bigger things this year. I look forward to hearing some more upbeat material for them.
There’s no doubt about it that this is one hell of an album and that you can hear the heart and soul that has gone into the writing of these lyrics. But for a gal that loves a bit of “oomph” from the likes of Kasabian and The Killers, Athlete don’t earn a place in my CD case for the car. Like my brother said, it’s not “driving” music its “soaking in the bath” music and I couldn’t have put it better myself. For more information you can visit: http://www.athlete.mu
