The Lazarus Plot - The Sun Shines Down
With a name that may or not have religious connotations or be a passing nod to Dostoevsky, a plethora of influences as divergent as Massive Attack, Genesis, Philip Glass and er . . . Duran Duran and a penchant for epic lighters aloft balladry. The Lazarus Plot are a band who when they formed in 2003 decided to “shirk away from the Britpop scene” (which I thought had collapsed and died somewhere around the turn of the decade, possibly when Cast went ‘big-beat’) and “create their own unique sound” inspired by the diversity of their influences.
The band have been described by the cultural barometer which is The Sun as ‘one to watch’, which given that particular publication’s record for always getting things right, all of the time is high praise indeed! Joking aside, the band do have an anthemic, everyman appeal reminiscent of U2 or Coldplay and singer Daniel Batchelor’s tones have a hint of Simon Le Bon or Gene’s Martin Rossiter about them. However, their claims that they are world’s apart from “a standard indie band” appear to be based on the use of loops, samples, backward vocals and electronic beats. Whilst it is noble that the band are trying to be experimental and produce something unique which sets them apart from their peers, the effect is to simply to make them sound like Coldplay with bells on. That said the single is a slice of extremely polished melancholia, albeit slightly over-produced with unnecessary clutter which detracts from the overall result.