The Viva Brother train seems to be losing that slightest bit of momentum. The Britpop revival was first heralded at the start of the year seems to be taking its time to get here, with the album being delayed by a month and the name change being extra obstacles as the Slough four-piece aren’t blitzing the music scene as some over-eager PR men said they would.
Don’t get me wrong, they still have some undeniably hooking tunes, their live show is epic and a must-see this year and they are finally trying to bring some guitar music back to the mainstream. Healthy turn-outs at both the Isle of Wight and Glastonbury festivals shows they have a good fan base, but new single ‘New Year’s Day’ has been strategically placed to keep their charge going.
And it’s exactly what you would expect from Lee Newell and Co.; it’s instantly catchy, guitar-driven and it sounds like a mid-90’s Blur track. ‘New Year’s Day’ brings plenty of ‘woah, oh, oh’s’, a jangling riff and some questionable lyrics – ‘I’m feeling closer to hell/And it’s burning like a big space rocket’, ‘We fell asleep top and tails/On the carpet, it was so uncomfortable’ to name two – but then the chorus kicks in. There’s that euphoric release that is Brother’s – sorry, Viva Brother’s calling card, and it’s another fine track.
Now we have all been exposed to the instantaneous ‘Darling Buds of May’ and the swelling ‘Time Machine’, which along with others add up to almost half of up-coming debut release ‘Famous First Words’. It’s all been hooking and catchy stuff up until now, and again live the set sounds phenomenal, but there is just a sense from some quarters that this ‘mouthy bunch of lads’ are faltering slightly in their ambitions.
They have been heralded since the start of 2011, and still are one of the most eagerly anticipated new bands of the past few years, but August 1st just needs to come around a bit quicker.
And here to remind some of you of this band's talents, it's a live version of 'New Year's Day'. Viva Brother!
NWR
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