One For The Family
I have a confession to make, I feel slightly aggrieved as well as slightly triumphant when the music press in general (most particularly the NME) pick up on bands that I’ve been admiring for over a year. The Brothers Movement first came to my attention last year with their lovely single, ‘Mary Jane’, a delightful psychedelic stunner, however with their eponymous debut is a real step up with faultless, commercial-sounding production wrapping their swirling sounds in a highly accessible outer layer.
The brutish, bold echoing vocals of ‘Blind’ announce the band’s bolshy intent, it’s a little like a more melodic Kasabian with better guitar-playing, tambourines and less needless attitude. Moving swiftly onwards, current single ‘Standing Still’ sports a mixture of gritty riffs, blustering vocals and glorious harmonies, making the listener really sit up and pay attention.
Elsewhere it all gets a lot more hazy and a little less impassioned; the psychedelic stylings come out more clearly on ‘Sister’ for example, which sounds like The Byrds and The La’s drowned in luscious effects, and the woozy but charming ‘Coming Home’. The same beautiful mix of harmonies turns from uplifting to aching in ‘Someday’, which has a hint of Britpop to its reverb-laden vocals and chugging guitars, and the epic mellow, but slightly melancholy ‘War and Peace’. ‘When We Leave’ is pure woozy modern psychedelic musing, falling somewhere between The Monkees and Richard Ashcroft in a world of guitar-led glory.
The Irish group have come up with an album full of promise that mixes really great tunes with warm and fuzzy retro kicks in a way that still sounds fresh, rather than derivative. ‘The Brothers Movement’ is a great album to stick on when you’ve got a spare hour to really sit back, relax and absorb some quality music that takes you on a subtle journey through glee and longing.