While Phantogram will undoubtedly reach the ears of a greater audience with better production on ‘Three’, it’s unlikely to make any lasting impressions.
The legendary first album is iconic and remains the water mark for the emo scene, but American Football’s long-awaited second album shows the band grown up and still capturing introspective melancholy in a way that few others can.
Opting for a more psychedelic rave style, there was great promise for a wonderfully original album from Crystal Fighters, but we’ve ended up with a surprisingly bland and lifeless one.
‘You Want It Darker’ shows an erudite artist still intent on pushing himself and addressing the world as he sees it, even in his eighties.
‘Joanne’ is an incredibly strong album and does not disappoint her hardcore fans, and should even win back some of the ‘Artpop’ critics.
‘Do Hollywood’ hints at something very exciting to come, if The Lemon Twigs can separate their own personalities from the musical character studies they’ve so expertly got nailed down.
‘Beyond Now’, an album dedicated to David Bowie by his ‘Blackstar’ band-leader Donny McCaslin, is musically complex but easy to follow.
After the sunny success of ‘Howlin’, Jagwar Ma’s second album is an unimaginative follow-up.
‘Gameshow’ has all the right ingredients: some catchy riffs, a few world-critiquing lyrics and a handful of exciting musical moments, but there’s just not enough of it all to have any major impact.
In trying to play it safe and recreate previous successes, the result is that The Naked And Famous will only fade into obscurity more.
