EMBRACE // "LOVE IS A BASIC NEED" - ALBUM REVIEW
AFTER FOUR YEARS.... EMBRACE RETURN WITH THEIR SEVENTH STUDIO ALBUM 'LOVE IS A BASIC NEED'.
EMBRACE - "LOVE IS A BASIC NEED" - RELEASED FRIDAY 2ND MARCH 2018
★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ (6.5/10)
On the back of 2014’s self titled album Embrace, one of the late nineties Brit-pop scene bands is releasing their seventh studio album - Love Is A Basic Need. Due to the departure in direction that the last album represented, this album is hotly anticipated. I got a sneak listen before the scheduled 2 March 2018 release date…..
From the intro piano refrain of opening track The Finishing Line, interesting name for the first track on the album, this is a very different beast to 2014s electronically influenced album Embrace. This is a thoughtful and anthemic track rising into a rousing chorus, hinting at a return to more familiar territory for their loyal and long term fan-base.
Moving to following track Never, with female vocals mixing with Danny McNamara’s down to earth and friendly vocal. Again there is a feeling of rousing to the chorus, the song writing is assured and feels like it has matured since their debut. There is a definite continuity to the first three tracks as Wake Up Call picks up where the previous tracks left off, I find I’m getting the sense that it’s more than continuity and I wonder if these first three track are too similar……there are very obvious influences of Elbow and Coldplay evident.
Track four, Snake Oil, starts off similarly measured with a interesting atmospheric piano and guitar pad into a fairly uplifting cadence on the piano crescendoing with the first solo of the album. The track builds insistently throughout and for me this is a welcome change in feel, and feels like a high point as does Where You Sleeping, this keeps this new urgency in the guitar intro, with a great ear-worm in the chorus refrain and guitar riffs, there is also an added longing in both the lyric and the melody.
In every song so far there seems to be a template being adhered to, which has a lack of excitement to it as I’m getting very used to the opening being either a interesting piano or guitar riff and the vocals building to a chorus where the drums and some other instrument come in, which at best could be showing continuity or worse suggesting a narrow outlook in the songwriting. Don’t get me wrong the songs are infinitely listenable but I feel like I want more variety and excitement.
Things seem to remain on the same track through All That Remains and Rabbit Hole although the latter has some overdriven guitars in towards it inevitable crescendo which adds something new. Horseshoe In My Glove stays sombre throughout not even bringing in Mike Heaton’s drums.
The final track is the albums title track Love Is A Basic Need, which is absolutely a different type of song from the rest of the album right from the opening bars, a revisit to an earlier Embrace feel, there is a slap back echo on the drum beat and some interesting guitar effects adding some texture and with a choir backing up the lead vocal in the chorus it is clear why the album hold this songs name as the title.
All in all Embrace fans turned away by the last albums electronic overtones will feel this is a return to what they know and expect from Embrace. For me the songwriting is assured and confident but not very varied, it seems to lack a creativity. Notably Snake Oil, Where You Sleeping and the title track are the high points. Definitely worth a listen as there are some lovely touches in this beautifully recorded album.
PURCHASE 'LOVE IS A BASIC NEED' here: