Eyeing Up The Mainstream?
On paper South should be the name that everyone is falling over themselves to brag about with the gracelessness of a true music snob. Three albums under their belts and the UK band are now releasing their next, ‘You Are Here’ whilst having supported the likes of Elbow, Primal Scream and Ian Brown on tour. But that’s not all. Their music has been used as soundtracks for everything from Sexy Beast to The O.C and they have the bragging rights of claiming a famous hobbit, Elijah Wood, as one of their best fans. For all this though ‘You Are Here’ is still being touted as their break through album and with a slight change to their sound (the usual electronic tendencies have been toned down), its clear that even the band are now going for the mainstream listener.
Working on the basis that the best albums knock you down from the first beat and steadily builds you up as it unravels, ‘You Are Here’ opens proceedings with the melancholic ‘Waster’ that revels in a psychedelic wonder that flows through layers of atmospherics that brilliantly sets up South’s fourth offering. Refreshingly unlike anything else currently clogging up the airwaves, ‘Waster’ melts in you with a euphoric sadness, suggesting this is an album to cling to. Sadly though it’s not to be. ‘Opened Up’ finds the UK band delving into the realm of mainstream with a track that although beautiful just doesn’t hold the same appeal as ‘Waster’ as ‘You Are Here’ goes on the reveal run of the mill radio friendly indie rock. There are glimpses of promise with ‘Every Light Has Blown’ twinkling splendidly along with a graceful tenderness that escalates into a piano led finale whilst ‘She’s Half Crazy’ bristles with a weirdly wonderful vocal range dancing with indie polka beat that suddenly develops an electronic edge but even this isn’t enough to grab your attention for too long and unfortunately your mind soon starts to wander.
With everyone seeming to want to emulate Coldplay or Snowpatrol, South are a band that could so easily have branched out with a new exciting twist to indie rock but sadly ‘You Are Here’ has seen them retreat away from the buzz that made them different and intriguing. At times their latest album does show glimpses of what an exciting band they can be but too quickly it is neatly tucked away again to be replaced by the safety of conventional indie rock which is all well and good but after a while starts to become repetitive, making you long for a blast of the old style South to shine through.