Broken Records - Until The Earth Begins To Part (4AD)
2/5
By: Matt Cole
BUY DOWNLOADIf you're going to put yourself in the same arena of multi-instrumentalist, evangelical, "we'll sing as the earth burns" collectives as Arcade Fire, you'd better have something amazing in your violin case. With their debut album Until The Earth Begins To Part, Broken Records make a game stab at it but are soon fed to the lions.
Things start promisingly with a whirlwind of Phillip Glass-esque strings whipping up excitement. Unfortunately the vocals land with hobnail boots and any originality is pummelled into submission.
Part of the reason that Arcade Fire work so well is that their barely contained bombast is counter-pointed by the heart-breaking vulnerability of Win Butler's voice which implores us to believe everything's going to be alright. Broken Records' Jamie Sutherland however mistakes bellowing for passion, completely dominating the very nicely crafted work of his band-mates and rendering the experience of every song as identical.
This overwrought earnestness simply screams, "Listen to us! We're really important! We'll change your lives! Honest!!!!" and is so po-faced I'm reminded of howling 80's folk monsters The Waterboys.
The shame of it is I bet there's an instrumental version of Until The Earth Begins To Part knocking around somewhere that's absolutely storming.
Artists in this article: Broken Records
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