Grand Oral - 'The World's Highest Thrill Ride' (Five45)
3/5
By: Thomas Hannan
The criticism that the British music press doesn't spend a lot of time looking for new talent in London does indeed sound laughable. Grand Oral, despite being based in our nation's capital and undertaking a similar musical direction to groups the UK press have loved getting their teeth into recent months, have somehow been overlooked by journalists too busy concentrating on the embarrassing amount of overseas talent we're currently experiencing. If only they came from New York...
What relatively little attention they have gathered has for the most part been full of understandable praise. 'World' Highest Thrill Ride' is the three-piece's debut record, and following a number of well-received EPs and live-shows which have made a disappointingly smaller impact on the music-world than they should have. Their sound is one not dissimilar from those that current darlings The Strokes and The White Stripes both hark back to, that being the fuzzy comfort of Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth, as well as the twisted pop sensibilities of the Pixies.
So, could they be the long-waited British element that today's scene lacks? Possibly. At times, 'World' Highest Thrill Ride' is sublime beyond belief, great examples arriving in the shapes of the gorgeous melancholia of 'Feel Like' or a moving 'Not A Day', the vocals provided by front man Anthony Smith on the latter perhaps being the album's emotional peak. Indeed, time and effort have been taken and well-utilised to ensure that none of these eleven compositions sound in the least bit flat, trickery and twists abound in the likes of a slightly sinister 'Godant 7', but despite the apparent sweat lost over the tunes, it doesn't ever sound as if it's trying too hard.
Grand Oral only lack a few things. They've taken their repertoire from a very fine list of influences, but suffer when it comes to building on them to create something to call their own. On occasion, this keeps them grounded when they should be flying, occasionally sounding like a parody of their heroes rather than forging their own path to greatness; additionally, this could be levelled through to the slightly amateurish quality to both the lyrics and artwork alike, but, reassuringly, the music hints that there are more than enough exciting roads to travel down on further adventures... Yes, what they need is simply a killer song with an individual flair, and whilst a fair few of the tunes on 'WHTR' come close to this mystical level of excellence, they're yet to maintain their foot firmly in the door.
Such criticism may seem harsh for such a new, vibrant talent, but it's only because this record is so achingly, frustratingly near to being something really rather luminous that it needs to be said at all. It's a safe bet that while their debut LP is a highly endearing collection of grunge-orientated pop songs, it most certainly won't be Grand Oral's finest hour.
In fact, when they play by their own rules instead of ones dictated to them by the ghosts of musical-past as on the affirmatively-titled 'Golden Shit', it's a strong call to arms, a threat that dismissing the trio now will only make you seem slightly foolish when they become something truly wonderful in the future... For now, though we'll happily put up with them being simply rather good.
Artists in this article: Grand Oral
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