More of an Orange Glow
Reading up about Colour Of Fire I must say I was very impressed by their current CVs. They’ve already had videos on MTV, sessions on Xfm and Radio 1 and have toured with the awesome Placebo and Sliver Chair. Therefore I turned on this York quartet’s initial EP, ‘The Exile’, with high hopes of being knocked off my feet.
First off the opening track, also named ‘The Exile’ immediately catches my attention. The music is good, not fantastic but it is pleasing to the ear. The jagged guitars and pounding bass are effortlessly likeable. However I have instantly found my favourite part of this band. Lead singer Owen Richards’ vocals are a clear and beautiful individual sound, almost like a fresh and new Pete Doherty at some points.
‘The Company Won’t Colour Me’ follows smoothly with a gentle opening and Owen’s voice coming through in high falsetto tones. The song then picks up to a thumping drum beat as it begin to climb to a heavier musical break. The guitars are now skilfully dodging back and forth from heavy rock riffs for the chorus to smoother lilting interludes. The build up applied, seems to promise more of a release for the chorus. This, unfortunately, is not supplied to the extent that it could be and therefore lets the song more trail off than bow out.
‘Ethereal’ is a slow concoction dripping with melancholy. As it steadily ploughs through, the song is irresistible for those in search of the band's emotional side. It drifts and washes over so you are more engulfed by the music than simply listening to it. Yet at this point you would’ve hoped the band would have increased the energy with a more jubilant track and saved this one for a finishing piece.
This measured pace is still resplendent as the song ‘Jennifer’ slides into your ear. There is more power here than in the previous track and the chorus provides ample guitar bashing to remind you that the band still have more performance in them. Finally, my prayers are answered as the song takes control and passion takes over the instruments. The song plays out smouldering with the final ignition of vigour giving the song the lift it required.
Listening to ‘Fuck Work, Let’s Party’ you can hardly believe it’s the same band. This is what the entire EP should have been based on: this raw ‘lets rock this’ attitude that this song is pumped full of. There is distinct reminiscence of King Adora here, in both voice and music and it works perfectly to give the EP the sharp edge it needed to lift it from the ashes.
Overall there is no way you can say it is a bad EP, the band are very talented and have every idea of where they want to go with this. But ‘The Exile’ just seems to lack the pull that makes you want to go back and listen to it time and time again. The ‘oomph’ is definitely there, especially in the final track, but it needs to be dominant the whole way through to really do the band justice.