Written
28th March 2015
Circa Waves – Young Chasers
The Band: Kieran Shudall (lead vocals/guitar), Joe Falconer (lead guitar), Sam Rouke (bass), Sian Plummer (drums)
This week sees the release of the keenly anticipated debut album from Liverpool 4-piece Circa Waves with ‘Young Chasers’. Becoming an increasingly popular up-and-coming young band, Circa Waves have previously been tipped for big things with some high-profile support slots including supporting Interpol on last year’s NME Tour (alongside Royal Blood and Temples no less) and supporting The Libertines at their series of gigs at Alexandra Palace. With a number of singles garnering some much deserved air-play under their belts, the band are about to embark on their very own headline UK tour and with the album’s release this week, let’s find out what these young Scouse upstarts are all about with their debut record.
Young
Chasers
1. Get Away
2.
T-shirt Weather
3.
Fossils
4.
Lost It
5.
My Love
6.
Deserve This
7.
Young Chasers
8.
Good For Me
9.
Stuck In My Teeth
10.
Best Years
11.
The Luck Has Gone
12.
So Long
13.
Talking Out Loud
Launching with energetic guitars and percussion the album opens with ‘Get Away’, previously launched as a debut single from the band, and sets the early tone and vibe of the frantic 3-minute Indie-pop these young lads are all about featuring a big sing-a-long chorus “And I can’t get away if I wanted to/My hands are tied/Tied to you/And I don’t mind, nooooo”. Recent single ‘T-shirt Weather’ follows which opens with a bit more chilled out rhythm to it while still carrying a confident swagger; it’s light-hearted and easy-listening “And I remember T-shirt weather/I remember some days/We were singing our lungs out/In the backseat together”. And while we’ve had two solid openers from the band it’s third track ‘Fossils’ which really starts to show the full potential of this band, with some incredibly tight, free-flowing guitar-pop akin to early sounding Strokes with an infectious melody and another big chorus “The one day I want/Something I just can’t get/I’m a long way from home/I’m a long way from home”. If you’ve never previously heard much material from Circa Waves before then this previous single is a recommended starting point.
‘Lost It’ features the first track on the album that has previously been unheard before its release and opens with a more chilled guitar-riff and mellow tempo throughout it that gentle coasts along nicely, again in the vein of style of The Strokes from their second album ‘Room on Fire’. ‘My Love’ sees the band pick up the tempo again with an urgent riff gently hammering away through it alongside backing bass and soft tender vocals here from Kieran “I know it’s not enough to be with you/I’m clinging to the walls that you can see through…And I’m giving up/My love/My love seems somewhere else”. ‘Deserve This’ is the most stripped down track on the album so far with gentle teasing guitars and more tender vocals here from Kieran questioning “Oh and why do I deserve this?/I was never good on purpose/Oh why?/Oh whyyyyy?” It finds the band here creating a sound similar to that of Arctic Monkeys midway through their fourth album ‘Suck It and See’.
Meanwhile midway through the record we have title-track ‘Young Chasers’ featuring an instant and urgent guitar-riff at its heart and clocking in just over 2-minutes long “Make your mind up/And I’ll chase you through the seats/The chase will wind up/I got blood on the soles of my feet” while the frantic pace of the record continues with another excellent single ‘Good For Me’ again built on effortlessly coasting Indie-pop, the track is a fun romp with real charm about it “You’ll see/Yeah you’ll see/You’re just no good for me/Good for me/Good for me”. The big singles keep coming here with another sweet, charmer of a track ‘Stuck In My Teeth’ again featuring a cool, flowing rhythm with racing vocals and building guitars and the urgently repeated line “I’m a little too young without enough time/I’m a little too young without enough time”. It’s again Indie-pop at its finest.
‘Best Years’ opens initially with a bit more of a dirty rock sound to it before gathering full momentum and coasting along with guitars from Kieran and Joe duelling it out with some nice riffs while Sam’s bass and Sian’s drums providing a fitting setting. ‘The Luck Has Gone’ is arguably the most poignant track on the album featuring tender lines “Did I leave this too long now?/Did I tie my tie too late?/I’m a million miles away/From the things I’d like to say” with an intricate guitar riff through it and backing percussion and this is a really nice track on the record. ‘So Long’ opens more up-tempo before featuring gentle guitar strums from Joe to accompany Kieran on vocals here before diving into a 100mph chorus “The night’s still young/But the day is so long/And you wish you stayed at home/And you wished you never come” before closing track ‘Talking Out Loud’ slows the pace down with a chilled out number rounding off the album nicely.
Overall
this is a cracking debut record from Circa Waves full with bursts of lively,
pure 3-minute Indie-pop tracks that The Strokes themselves would be proud
off. This is free-flowing, easy-listening
yet essentially, incredibly catchy guitar-pop much in the mould of early
sounding The Maccabees and to a lesser extent Arctic Monkeys but crucially
these four-youngster from Liverpool have honed their sound to near-perfection
and I can see this catchy record remaining on repeat for a while yet and should
still be a lot of good fun to listen to a few months down the line. Tracks like ‘T-shirt Weather’, ‘Fossils’ and ‘Stuck
In My Teeth’ are text-book mainstream Indie-pop and will see the band quickly
develop a big following while tracks like ‘Deserve This’ and ‘The Luck Has Gone’
shows there is a mature charm about this 4-piece that could see them still go
on to bigger things. Without question
this is a solid debut album from Circa Waves full of some great enjoyable
numbers and I’m going to give this one a highly recommended 9 ‘Fossils’ out of
10 as this is a welcome record from these four Young Chasers.
So
Long
Flynny
Track
2 – ‘T-shirt Weather’
Track
3 – ‘Fossils’
Track
8 – ‘Good For Me’
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