Air Traffic - Fractured Life (EMI)
3/5
By: Gareth Roberts
Making quite a name for themselves recently as the latest band to be granted entry into the elite 'indie-mainstream' cross-over club, currently boasting a membership roster which includes the likes of Keane and The Feeling; Air Traffic are clearly not going to be everyone's cuppa.
Yes, they may be as offensive as a field mouse with a broken leg, but since when has being offended been such a desirable experience anyway? 'Just Abuse Me's infectious piano may evoke thoughts of jazz-dwarf Jamie Cullum, but there's no denying that as far as the pop charts are concerned, this stuff is dynamite. The rougher, riff-fuelled 'Charlotte' keeps the momentum going in a fashion that can only be described as 'pleasantly rousing', whilst 'Shooting Star' and 'No More Running Away' show the Keane-like soft ballad side to them which is going to get the female fans cooing on next year's festival circuit.
Probably not the type of band you'd like to be associated with (on account of you reading this uber-cool website, you geek), but Air Traffic are bereft of the sickeningly mature cheddar cheesiness of The Feeling and the general annoyingness of the likes of Keane and Orson, not to mention they're not a bunch of w*nkers like Maroon 5 (edit - clearly I don't know this for a fact, its what I would call an informed presumption). 'Fractured Life' is a record packed full of crowd pleasers, and potentially very large crowds at that. Like I said, not for everyone, but theres no doubt that Air Traffic got the tunes to fly high (jesus...), and I wish them all the best.
Stream four tracks from 'Fractured Life' HERE.
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