Tribes - Wish to Scream


Barely a year has passed since Tribes tried valiantly to set the world alight with another UK indie debut. Baby may have crept into the top 20 of the album charts, but can anyone honestly call it a breakthrough to remember? If there's anything that Britons are guilty of it's wistful nostalgia, and we're willing to go so far as to get doe-eyed over a period of time only 8 years ago in our refusal to either get with the times or aim for something more culturally satisfying. The mid-noughties surge of British bands with shaggy haircuts and bland rock is now already embedded in the national subconscious as "that time just before the recession when everything was nice".


The sad truth about Wish to Scream is that the songwriting just isn't up to scratch. Whilst Baby was anything but innovative, it at least provided opportunity to have a sing-along with crowdpleasers like Sappho and We Were Children. Here, the best attempt is opener 'Dancehall', a bar-room ballad that gets mired in convention and MOR tedium. From there, it's only downhill. 'Get Some Healing', whilst a pretty tune, couldn't stand out in a beige room. They slightly mangle a few Primal Scream tunes on 'How the Other Half Live', where it at least sounds like all of the band are trying rather than just frontman Johnny Lloyd. "No mediocrity with the circus in town", he lies, before earnestly singing "you've gotta give it some time". It's a fair enough sentiment, but it's not as if there is nothing more interesting available. If you last it out to 'Sons and Daughters' you're at least treated to a glimpse of what a world might be like if Status Quo were still relevant.


Not quite sure why I bothered.

Rating: 3.5/10
Highlights: How the Other Half Live; Dancehall
Avoid: Sons and Daughters; Get Some Healing; Never Heard of Graceland

Artwork Watch: There are many colours and they are pretty so this is nice.
Up next: Queens of the Stone Age  

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