Ship ahoy on Teenage Blood with Tom Williams & The Boat
I first came across this band during various live music nights in Reading, most notably in a church during the town's pop-up festival Outside:Inside last July. They put on a tight and polished performance. What struck me was that they were playing small gigs in the provinces, as oppose to all of their contemporaries, starry-eyed and focussed on London which creates is a feeling that they're home-grown... even though they're from Kent.
Their new album Teenage Blood (Moshi Moshi/Wire Boat Recordings) will be released on 23 April 2012. As an album, it fuses together contemporary folk styles, with a huge nod to underground anti-folk lovely Frank Turner.
The album opens with the title track Teenage Blood and this could be lifted straight from a Frank Turner b-side. The track pounds through a tale of holding onto an ailing relationship. Playing on a sorry trend that Adele has started by tugging on the heartstrings of the heartbroken. Unlike Adele, this track is upbeat and almost anthemic. As Tom sang about starting to fall apart, I started to imagine boozed-up, sweaty, bare-chested men hugging each other while singing along to this in a 'we're not gay, we just love each other, yeah?' way.
The second track is entitled Too Young, this follows the blueprint set by the opening track according to Tom, this is the best song he's ever written. In my humble opinion, it's a paint by numbers guitar pop song that tries to be dark but doesn't quite build enough of an atmosphere to evoke any emotion nor has the musicality to set it apart from everything else.
Track three Little Bit In Me is my favourite; there is something very English about a dark, troubled life narrated through angry, spoken verses; with upbeat guitars underneath haunting strings and a catchy riff. It reminds me of the protest songs of the 80s and could've been crafted by Billy Bragg himself.
Trouble With The Truth is that sounds like Adele. It quickly pulls you away before your eyes well and you reach for Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough with a riff that is normally found in an 80s power ballad. It's a great followup to previous tracks, but to honest, I'm losing interest.
Track five, My Bones is another track that would sit comfortably with Frank Turner or a more cheery (in sound) Ed Sheeran. I'm now checking the track listing to see how many tracks are left to listen to.
If you want to know what the next few tracks, Neckbrace (Big Wave), Like You (hello rehashed Adele track, I've been expecting you), There's A Stranger, Summer Drive and Emily, sound like just reread my comments above which is basically same approach the band took in making this album.
For something that's called teenage, there is a remarkably mature sound to it. Most songs talk of doomed romance, but it all follows a tried and tested formula since the dawn of music, and this is where the band's naivety shows. It's not a criticism, I go to a lot of live music nights bursting at the seams with boys thinking they know everything about life and love, trying to make it in the big, bad music industry with tracks that fail to capture or inspire you.
Their style is a more dark and gritty folk music, setting it apart from the Noah And The Whale happy-clappy folk or the faux bluegrass folk of Mumford & Sons. It's a modern folk sub-genre I can get on-board with but it ended up sounding like the background music to an urban ale festival.
I respect this band, as they have worked hard to get to where they want to be. The album was entirely funded by fans through Pledge Music and a portion of the money raised from sales will go to Kent Air Ambulance. They have toured tirelessly and deliver a great live performance, but as an album this fails to deliver anything unique.
First published 27/04/2012
Their new album Teenage Blood (Moshi Moshi/Wire Boat Recordings) will be released on 23 April 2012. As an album, it fuses together contemporary folk styles, with a huge nod to underground anti-folk lovely Frank Turner.
The album opens with the title track Teenage Blood and this could be lifted straight from a Frank Turner b-side. The track pounds through a tale of holding onto an ailing relationship. Playing on a sorry trend that Adele has started by tugging on the heartstrings of the heartbroken. Unlike Adele, this track is upbeat and almost anthemic. As Tom sang about starting to fall apart, I started to imagine boozed-up, sweaty, bare-chested men hugging each other while singing along to this in a 'we're not gay, we just love each other, yeah?' way.
The second track is entitled Too Young, this follows the blueprint set by the opening track according to Tom, this is the best song he's ever written. In my humble opinion, it's a paint by numbers guitar pop song that tries to be dark but doesn't quite build enough of an atmosphere to evoke any emotion nor has the musicality to set it apart from everything else.
Track three Little Bit In Me is my favourite; there is something very English about a dark, troubled life narrated through angry, spoken verses; with upbeat guitars underneath haunting strings and a catchy riff. It reminds me of the protest songs of the 80s and could've been crafted by Billy Bragg himself.
Trouble With The Truth is that sounds like Adele. It quickly pulls you away before your eyes well and you reach for Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough with a riff that is normally found in an 80s power ballad. It's a great followup to previous tracks, but to honest, I'm losing interest.
Track five, My Bones is another track that would sit comfortably with Frank Turner or a more cheery (in sound) Ed Sheeran. I'm now checking the track listing to see how many tracks are left to listen to.
If you want to know what the next few tracks, Neckbrace (Big Wave), Like You (hello rehashed Adele track, I've been expecting you), There's A Stranger, Summer Drive and Emily, sound like just reread my comments above which is basically same approach the band took in making this album.
For something that's called teenage, there is a remarkably mature sound to it. Most songs talk of doomed romance, but it all follows a tried and tested formula since the dawn of music, and this is where the band's naivety shows. It's not a criticism, I go to a lot of live music nights bursting at the seams with boys thinking they know everything about life and love, trying to make it in the big, bad music industry with tracks that fail to capture or inspire you.
Their style is a more dark and gritty folk music, setting it apart from the Noah And The Whale happy-clappy folk or the faux bluegrass folk of Mumford & Sons. It's a modern folk sub-genre I can get on-board with but it ended up sounding like the background music to an urban ale festival.
I respect this band, as they have worked hard to get to where they want to be. The album was entirely funded by fans through Pledge Music and a portion of the money raised from sales will go to Kent Air Ambulance. They have toured tirelessly and deliver a great live performance, but as an album this fails to deliver anything unique.
First published 27/04/2012
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