Kings Of Leon deliver on triumphant eighth album Gabrielle
Kings Of Leon When You See Yourself
The seasoned rockers from Nashville, Tennessee, return with their eighth studio album and their first since 2016’s Walls — their fifth in a row to top the UK chart.
So after five years, can they do it again? I do hope so.
After a year without the heavy air and beer-stained floors of a gig to enjoy, this is exactly the right way to scratch that itch.
Of course, those hoping for a collection of anthemic pop tracks, such as Sex On Fire or Use Somebody, both now a decade old, will be disappointed, but this record is a triumph.
The Bandit, already pre-released, will have you yearning for live, deafening sound, while the triumphant guitar licks of Stormy Weather and marching drums of Echoing offer an uplifting purpose.
But the slow-building of A Wave, and indeed the album’s title track, also encapsulate its thoughtful nature. There is melancholy here but it feels apt.
If you need a lift or a moment to reflect, this album is for you. 9/10, Review by Edward Dracott
Do It Again
Gabrielle’s voice is unique. It is instantly identifiable, which makes it so surprising that Rita Ora, Jonathan Ross and co took so long to reveal her identity on ITV’S reality singing competition The Masked Singer.
Hackney-born Louise Gabrielle Bobb performed a fair number of these tracks on that show, including Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car and Falling by Harry Styles. But look beyond that. This is more than just a crass attempt at cashing in on TV glory.
From the moment she hits the first, tremulous note of Killing Me Softly With His Song, Gabrielle is in her element.
Her version of Proud Mary is more hit than miss, with a grooving, uplifting pulse.
Her take on Teardrops, however, does little to improve, or even change, what was already a near perfect product.
Two new tracks are perfectly pleasant and show off her revered vocal chops.
Take my advice: don’t think too deeply about Do It Again. Just sit back and listen to a British icon finesse her way through some modern classics.
Review by Alex Green
Madison Beer Life Support
Madison Beer may only be 21 but her debut album has been a long time coming. By 16 she had been discovered on Youtube by Justin Bieber, signed to Island Records and dropped quietly with a half-finished album.
In hindsight, this may have been a good thing. Life Support is the kind of personal, layered album that would have been impossible to make in those restricted circumstances.
Beer may occasionally slip into the kind of slick R&B familiar to fans of Ariana Grande. But more often than not, Life Support’s poppier parts are tempered by her own more left-field influences.
Smatterings of grungy guitar on Follow The Write Rabbit nod towards Nirvana, while the album’s first two songs draw on the styles of Tame Impala.
Beer’s voice is a highlight, dancing between fragile on the atmospheric Blue and full diva on BOYS***.
Life Support is an album made for the fans – and the naysayers.
7/10, Review by Alex Green
Teenage Fanclub Endless Arcade
In these difficult times, Teenage Fanclub return with their shimmering melodies and chiming guitars to bring us hope.
They are no longer the guitar-heavy outfit that emerged three decades ago at the height of grunge, beloved by Kurt Cobain, who praised them as the best band in the world.
On much of their 10th studio album, the trademark power pop has slowed, and 1960s influences are to the fore, including The Byrds and The Hollies and, on I’m More Inclined, Crosby, Stills & Nash.
It has been all change for the band since their last album, 2016’s Here, with founding member Gerard Love leaving over a difference of opinion on touring plans, leaving them a singer, songwriter and bass player down.
Endless Arcade is written by Blake and Mcginley, with the former’s songs infused by loss and melancholy, the latter more philosophical, advising “don’t be afraid of this life” on the title track. In 2021, Teenage Fanclub are not reliving their youth, and despite the nods to the past, they are not stuck there, still powering forward into future. 7/10,