Written
13th February 2015
The
Subways – The Subways
The Band: Billy Lunn (vocals/guitar), Charlotte
Cooper (vocals/bass), Josh Morgan (drums)
This
week saw the return of the high-spirited, enthusiastic and energetic
three-piece The Subways with the release of their self-titled fourth album ‘The
Subways’. The band arrived on the scene
around 2005 with their excellent debut album ‘Young for Eternity’ which
captured their dynamic and energetic live shows with great Indie-rock tracks
like ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Queen’ and ‘Oh Yeah’, while still showing a tender side to the
band with some lighter, poppy tracks (‘Mary’, ‘Young for Eternity’) and some gentle
acoustic numbers with ‘No Goodbyes’ being a fine example.
This
was followed by 2008’s ‘All or Nothing’ which saw the band offering some
harder, intense rock particularly the excellent opener ‘Girls and Boys’ and other
tracks building from their debut record with ‘Shake! Shake!’ showcasing the
complimentary vocals between Billy and Charlotte and how well this vocal partnership
works for the band. ‘Strawberry Blonde’
was another fine moment from this record again highlighting the beautiful,
tender side The Subways can also offer.
Much
like their third album ‘Money and Celebrity’, the band started a new Pledge
Music campaign to help support the release of their latest album and have
provided fans with regular updates and exclusives through the Pledge Music
website so if you previously missed the campaign feel free to check out their
project page here: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/thesubways.
So
in true Billy fashion let’s stage-dive right into the latest record and check
out how the latest offering from The Subways sounds.
The
Subways
1.
My Heart Is Pumping to a Brand New Beat
2.
I’m In Love and it’s burning in My Soul
3.
Taking all the Blame
4.
Dirty Muddy Paws
5.
Good Times
6.
Because of You (Negative Love)
7.
Just Like Jude
8.
We Get Around
9.
Pet Boy
10.
Black Letter
11.
Twisted Game
12.
Is That Enough
With
an up-tempo guitar riff ‘My Heart Is Pumping to a Brand New Beat’ was
previously previewed early by the band as part of their Pledge Music campaign
and is familiar territory for them, with a fun, energetic groove at the
heart of the track and sees Billy on vocals for its verses while Charlotte
takes over vocal duties for the chorus “When
you’re with me on the dancefloor/My heart is pumping to a brand new beat/Everything
I ever cared for/Everything I always wanted to be”. ‘I’m In Love and it’s Burning My Soul’
follows on with short, sharp power chords and building percussion from Josh
while also featuring some short, sharp one-liners from Billy “You know I want it/Cause it’s mine/I got
something/Something on my mind” before Charlotte takes over again for the
chorus “I’m in love yeah/I’m in love
yeah/And it’s burning at my soul”. It’s
another fun, full-on rock track. ‘Taking
All the Blame’ is a lovely semi-acoustic, rock number and as Billy previously
revealed in a Pledge update for the album, is a very honest and personal track
as Billy and Charlotte share their views with each other on their previous
relationship together “What can I do/Do
you want me on my knees/What shall I give/One hundred more apologies”,
showing the true strength of their friendship and honesty with each other here.
‘Dirty
Muddy Paws’ is another full-on, lively rock number with a really nice sonic riff
from Billy speeding right through the heart of it while ‘Good Times’ features
short, sharp, angst guitar riffs pulsing away at it and featuring some very
personal lyrics from Billy here “I wanna
live and never die/I’m never giving up the fight/I wanna sing I wanna breath”
and a strong chorus “And when I wake up
in the morning/Yeah when the sun shines bright/The sun shines bright/I wanna
feel the day is calling/I wanna see the good times/The good times”. Midway through the record we have an
incredibly beautiful acoustic ballad ‘Because of You (Negative Love)’. Featuring soft acoustic guitars and gentle
backing piano this track sees Billy on top-form with his vocals and lyrics “What once I was/No longer/Because of you/I’m
stronger/I’ll never break/This promise/Because of you/I’m honest”. This is a truly lovely track. Charlotte picks up vocal duties again on
‘Just like Jude’ a fun, light-hearted romp of a track with high-spirited punk
at its heart and clocking in quickly at just under 2 minutes before ‘We Get
Around’ brings more heavy-rock riffs and Billy delivering lines like there’s no
tomorrow and I particularly like the line “You’re
a saviour of rock ‘n’ roll” before Charlotte chips in with a nicely
delivered “Come on!” ‘Pet Boy’ sees all three members of the band
on fine-form with some more power-rock, Billy’s guitar and Charlotte’s bass
duelling throughout while Josh’s thunderous drumming provides the battleground
for both.
With
what I would possible describe as quite an eclectic blend of hip-hop and
guitar-rock ‘Black Letter’ opens with Billy and Charlotte both chanting “Pack up with your broken bones/Pack up with
your broken bones/Pack up with your broken box” before Billy deliciously snarls
the track-title over the chorus “You
wrote me a blaaaaack letteeeeer!” and this track very much reminds me of
the sound of The Pixies. Another highly-energetic,
up-tempo number ‘Twisted Game’ sees the band delivering some more power-rock
with Billy delivering lyrics like there is no tomorrow “Wake up it’s a goddamn beautiful day” before Charlotte’s backing
vocal “So pretty/So beautiful”
returning to Billy’s “Wake up it’s a
goddamn twisted game” over the chorus.
Closing track ‘Is that Enough?’ sees the album close with an assured, confident
rock track back with Charlotte on lead-vocals here, with softer verses before a
more brutal chorus “You beat my brains
in/It’s all I need/We broke the borders/And watched the whole world bleed”
before the track and album closes with a solid guitar solo to finish off.
As
you will likely have no doubt gathered from this review, this self-titled
fourth album from The Subways is packed with some serious full-on, power-rock a style which this three-piece have really honed to an incredibly tight sound
over the years, with many tracks on this album leaving you breathless and
clocking in under 3 minutes each.
However don’t just be fooled by this image, this album certainly has
plenty of depth to it. With some great
and very personal lyrics to be found here from both Billy and Charlotte, it
goes without saying that the duel sharing of vocal duties is a real trademark
of the band and one that has stood them well over the test of time to create a
real identity for the band now over four fine records. I think this latest offering ‘The Subways’
really sees the band on fine form and I have a lot of admiration for how much
work all three put into getting this album out there, particularly as Billy
recorded and mixed the album himself, and I am happily going to give this one 8
Good Times out of 10, as this is without question an enthusiastic, fun, rock
record but also laced with some sublime, tender moments, in particular ‘Because
of You (Negative Love)’, which in my opinion is one of the most beautiful, endearing
tracks this fun and loveable three-piece have recorded.
Dirty
Muddy Paws
Flynny
Track
1 – ‘My Heart Is Burning to a Brand New Beat’
Track
3 – ‘Taking all the Blame’
Band
website:
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