Olympic Standard (Vehicles & Animals - Athlete)

Member Name: basil40

Product:	Vehicles & Animals - Athlete
Date:	26/01/05 (124 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Original, Mellow, Great choruses

Disadvantages: A bit samey in places

THE BAND
Like all good things in life, I discovered Athlete accidentally. I won't bore you with the details because I'm sure it's the music you're interested in and not a crazy (but true) scenario involving a Mediterranean supermarket manager and a case of mistaken identity.

So anyway, I bought the CD, played it and my findings are below. Generally if I like a band or their music affects me in a positive way, I like to RESEARCH the artist. I found the following website very useful:

www.athlete.mu

Soundclips from the album are available and I learnt a lot about the band's history. Just to summise, they are a four piece from Deptford, London comprising of Joel, Carey, Steve and Tim. They all share vocal duties and have known each other since they were 14. First release, 2002's Athlete EP featured the Vehicles And Animals track, Beautiful, and was Jo Wiley's record of the week.

As I said, further info can be gleaned from the above website which includes an in-depth interview with the band on the making of the album.

TRACKS:
1 EL SALVADOR
This was the track that alerted me to the band called Athlete. I heard it on London's alternative station, XFM, and fell in love with it. The chorus is naggingly familiar and the psychadelic intro makes a change from the usual acoustic strummed nonsense. As far as as I can tell it's a tune about the unnecessary trappings attached to pop stardom (especially when filming promos): "Fly to El Salvador/I don't know why and I don't know what for". Utterly great and at a little over 3 minutes, it doesn't outstay its welcome. (5/5)

2 WESTSIDE
Starting with hushed vocals and the assertion that "everybody wants to be part of the rock scene", it soon builds into a quite charming stop/start song. The shout of the word "chorus" before the actual chorus is hilarious inspiration and the mark of a band trying not to take themselves too seriously. (4/5)

3 ONE MILLION
Similar chilled tempo to the previous two tracks but oozing with its own individual personality. A nagging, gentle guitar and reverb-drench synth pout away in the background as the chorus refrain of "it was just one of those things" chimes away. The backing is so cute, if you took the vocals away it could almost be the Carpenters. No, come back. (3/5)

4 SHAKE THOSE WINDOWS
"He lives in Edinburgh/Just cross the road" goes the acapella intro before a 4/4 guitar adds its mark to the song. The beat is a near perfect compliment to the track and jangly guitars add a third dimension. There's a thin line between beautiful and boring, and this has the former's traits in bucketloads. "You can't appreciate what we were into then", goes the hookline suggesting a song about misspent youth. (4/5)

5 BEAUTIFUL
Not another slowy, I thought, when I first heard this song. At the 1 minute mark, it bursts into life with the gentle chorus. All instruments, except a distant guitar disppear for the emergence of the second verse and so on throughout the track. A typical quiet/loud/quiet song, the sort of which I love. (4/5)

6 NEW PROJECT
A vocal and piano intro describes a derelict house in a VERY Beatles kind of way. It's a midtempo plod and at halfway through the album I am beginning to yearn for an all out rocker or an uptempo number. So what happens at the 2 minute mark? The song rocks. Uptempo-ly. Full of surprises, this band are! (3/5)

7 YOU GOT THE STYLE
My absolute favourite track on the album. All of the tracks have a very English lyrical charm. Lovely "oh"'s and a guilty admission of "I've gone and put my foot right in it". You wouldn't get this from a US band, would you? Great, catchy chorus and You Got The Style is never far from an uncharacteristically funky beat. (5/5)

8 VEHICLES AND ANIMALS
ANOTHER acapella intro! This time, though, it ascends into a fabulous singalong chorus of: "we've got our vehicles and animals" after three minutes of tempoless restraint. I bit strange. Hence....(3/5)

9 OUT OF NOWHERE
The drums sound like my mates Radiohead having a bit of an experiment. The vocals are almost jazz-scat in style and the whole feel of the track is very 80's wine bar until the final chorus burst into indierock life with triumphant cries of "Hurrah".

10 DUNGENESS
The band hail from from neck of the woods (south east London/north west Kent). Generally the best beach day out can be had at Camber Sands for those living in my area. Typical of Athlete's attention to detail and their love of the obscure, they have chosen to sing about a baron stretch of sand about five miles from Camber that very few people ever visit in a pleasure capacity. "Let's go to Dungeness" they chant ironically in a booze-fuelled chorus over lazy hip hop beats. Quite brilliant in an intentionally laddish and chatoic kind of way. (5/5)

11 YOU KNOW
Another guitar and vocal intro wafts along before another of their quite/loud/quiet tunes springs into life. The upliftingly beautiful chorus of "give it up/lift your head" adds further gusto to this album's already strong credentials. (4/5)

12 LE CASIO
And after 45 minutes of deilcate strumming, start-stop rhythms, lazy hip hop beats, boozy chrouses and ironic odes to forgotten beaches, we have the comedown track. The beat sounds like it was programmed on an old casio keyboard c. 1982 and is a very gentle, introspective end to a fabulously confident debut album. (4/5)

SUMMARY
A great little find. Quirky, left of centre, but with enough catchy hooks and deft touches to ensnare casual music fans too. Play this while lying on the patio this summer and you won't be disappointed.

They're about to release theiir second album, Tourist, and the single - Wires - is receiving daily airplay on Capital FM, and presumably many other stations nationwide.

BUY THE ALBUM IF YOU LIKE:
Coldplay
Squeeze
Keane
The Flaming Lips' quieter moments
XTC
Thoughtful pop, generally.

Thanks

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