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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Why aren't they more famous...?, 29 Jan 2004
By A Customer
This is an excellent album for anyone who is the current British indie scene - from the likes of early Radiohead (without the full-on bleakness) to Turin Brakes, Elbow and Embrace. But the group they most remind me of is, in fact, Starsailor. This in fact could have been a more worthy follow-up album to Starsailor's `Love is Here' album, as it is certainly better imho than `Silence is Easy'. The lead singer has the same vocal Jeff Buckley falsetto ability, and the melodic harmonies and piano progressions soar above the Radiohead-like basslines/undercurrents...Standouts are definitely the new single Breathe in, Throwing Stones and Sleeping Citizens. But the album nevers dips in quality, which is quite an achievement in itself... this band is definitely one worth watching, ...
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fine discovery, 16 Jun 2003
I stumbled across this album about four months ago, and it has not left my car CD player since. It is rare that I buy a new album and listen to it from start to finish without skipping on once, but I did with this. It is a fine mixture of melodic vocals and instrumentation, sensitive and affecting lyrics and good old-fashioned noisy rock. It is true that there are echoes of Radiohead, Travis and Muse in there, especially in the vocals of lead singer James Grundler, but I think it is unfair to brand this exciting new band as rip-offs - their accompished melodies and harmonies (in the harder tracks as well as the gentler ones) really do set them apart and make this album highly listenable. The stand-out tracks are undoubtedly the single, Fade Out/In, which tears along with a heady measure of angst, Sleeping Citizens with its sensitive and poignant harmonies, the positively soaring and anthemic Breathe In, and my personal favourite, Going Going Gone, which to my mind showcases all of the strengths of Palo Alto (the harmonic melodies, the mix of hard and soft instrumentation and guitar work, and the vocal range - from gentle and wispy to strong and throaty - of Grundler). I have only stopped short of five stars because there are moments when the album sounds like a debut - the bass work and drumming on some tracks sounds occasionally businesslike and dare I say it, bland - but on the whole the wonderful melodic guitars and vocals plus the very slick production courtesy of Rick Rubin and American Records more than compensate for this and make the listener very intrigued as to what their sophomore effort will bring. It would be nice to see them out on the live circuit soon, and if there is any justice, blazing a trail in the future.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very good, but...., 30 April 2003
This is a good album, reminiscent of the more earnest and less heavy-guitar driven British indie scene than the American scene from which this LA band have emerged. 'Fade out/in' is Bends-era Radiohead, with a hint of Mansun. 'Hangman' draws on the more epic elements of Bends-era Radiohead but is not self-indulgent, while 'Going Going Gone' is as good a new song as I've heard this year, with a lovely soaring chorus, repleat with piano, strings, delicate indie guitar and passionate vocals.....a bit like Bends-era Radiohead. Do we see a pattern developing here??This band have clearly listened to 'The Bends', and loved it, as I did. I haven't gone out and made a tribute album though.... Ok, ok, that is all a bit harsh, because there is more to this than a Radiohead tribute, but not much. Besides, there are far worse bands to want to be!! They have made an album of great quality, and more importantly, potential. James Grundler (I think he's the singer anyway!!!) has a cracking, passionate voice, the songs are well written and the arrangements are nice and pleasant to the ear. If they want to make the step up to stardom, however, they need to use their influences to shape their music, and not simply aspire to be like them.
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