A friend put me onto this band so I decided to check them out. They hail from Bridgnorth, Shropshire and are 5 accomplished young musicians who have played quite a few gigs and are looking to cement their authority around this independent album.
Autumn Leaves is the band’s debut album and every song is full of excellent musicianship and perfect vocal delivery. They cite a wide variety of influences such as Nirvana, The Stone Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Smiths, Elvis Costello, RadioHead, Bombay Bicycle Club, Blur, Sonic Youth and Pink Floyd. However, they are far more very melodic than many of their influences with the beautiful vocals of Vicky Kempner, and lyrics delivered with emotion and power over the melodic rock.
At times they resemble Liverpool’s Sundowners and Rumours era Fleetwood Mac with elements of prog rock creeping into the arrangements and at times a celtic rock feel.
‘False Prophecy’ kicks the album off with melancholic acoustic guitar and soaring vocal lines and harmonies and breaks into rock before ending with mesmerising vocals and an excellent guitar to fade out.
‘Anaesthetic’ opens with finger picked guitar lines and inventive drumming before vocals take over the soundscape. The song has an amazing bassline and some great drumming and the metal guitar is excellent and makes this one of the best songs on the album.
On ‘The Partisan’, the band kicks it up a notch and this up tempo metal number sounds at times like No Doubt with a metal guitarist. The playing is tight and there are some excellent tempo changes. This will be the one to watch live. ‘Never Too Late’ is another rocker but with a slightly slower tempo with the ghosts of earlier radiohead and muse running through it.
‘Hearts of Snow’ is another excellent showcase for Kempner’s voice, especially the lyric lines. The band are clearly wise and musical beyond their years, the guitar solo soars over the excellent melodic bass and the backing vocals are wonderful.
‘Inhale’ has yet another different feel and some great funky rhythms, an excellent singalong chorus and a mesmerising guitar riff which is where the Chilli Peppers influence is most evident.
The title track, Autumn Leaves, is full of sweeping acoustic guitar, and beautiful orchestral sounds to accompany the haunting vocal. This is one of the most original melodic rock songs I have heard in recent times. The acoustic and electric guitar blends so perfectly and the keyboard orchestrations provide the melody to support the vocal.
This is an excellent tight young band and it’s hard to believe that they can construct songs like this at such a young age. Given the right chances they could really do something.
