the Exhibition - Carry To The End - CD (2014)

Labels: Of National Importance Records
Review by: Ted Reynolds

I think I have reviewed these bays before – and having now viewed the Collective Zine archive, I have – I accused them of having a good song and then one sounding like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. That could be a horrific proposition for me because I now have to listen to them again and put up with the horror of white funky business. Or the good song will have won out, and they will have carried along in the bleak indie line.

We have got to track 2 and bleak indie has won. Which of course means I have too. This is so much better for me anyway. That RHCP has morphed into a more of an interesting slowed down Rapture style, drenched in a more light shoegaze sound, with a nod towards Joy Division. So much more enjoyable than before, a good listen all round.

Is it an appalling insult to the band if I say I could imagine some of the songs – especially ‘Starting Over’ in a particularly dramatic romance scene in ‘The Royals’? It probably is, but you know what – The Royals is great, stop pretending to be cool and claiming you don’t like it and watch it. Its the poshos Footballers Wives, and it’s excellent.

All in all this is decent stuff, much preferable to what I have heard from them before. If you are fan of a bit of morose indie then you are not going to find much wrong with this.