Elly Roberts reviews
Athlete: Tourist
Distributed by
Parlophone
- Released: January 2005
- Rating: 8/10
- Cat.no.: 5607402 (CD only) / 5637040 (CD + DVD)
Second album release for Deptford quartet Athlete.
The single Wires is getting steady airplay rotation by BBC Radio 2’s
A-list,with Radio 1 elevating it to B-list, while XFM keeps it on the A-list.
All this bodes well for Joel Pott (guitar/vocals), Carey Willets (bass/vocals),
Tim Wanstall (keys/vocals) and Stephen Roberts (drums/vocals). The rest of
the album is excellent and should not be overlooked at any cost. If mellow is
your bag then you’ll love this to bits.
Vehicles And Animals, their debut album brought much critical acclaim
with a Mercury shortlist nomination in 2002, spawning six top 50 singles.
It was quirky pop at its best, but this is a very different affair. Much consideration
about a change, with superb songs, arrangements and production. The band looked
outwards at their favourite bands and writers like Neil Young, Flaming Lips
and Beck and turned the experience on its head.
The quirkiness is more subtle this time around, with some odd instrumentation
popping up here and there. Beautiful melodies and harmonies show a greater
maturity and richness way beyond its predecessor, taking the band the a higher
level than possibly expected. Songs about touring, missing people and
relationships never sounded so good.
It all makes for a wonderful chill-out album - with the odd bit of drama.
Keane’s Hope and Fears bored me, Coldplay are good but predicatble –
Athlete do it with the right balance – it’s clever stuff.
Highpoints: the glorious opener Chances complete with rousing strings
and crescendo, and lovely touches on Half Light and a haunting Street Map.
This album sounds good,and feels even better after a few listens. Top CD !
The full list of tracks included are :
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.
