Circa Waves

Young Chasers

Written by: TL on 02/04/2015 13:26:47

You ever had that feeling where you hear some new music that immediately makes you want to dance, and then you do so, yet after a little while the mood stays practically the same, and you start to feel a bit silly and bored from moving to the same old repetitive thing? For better and worse, that's exactly what you should expect, in any case, from Liverpool indie-rockers Circa Waves and their debut album "Young Chasers", which came out originally in February and was only just released here in Denmark. The album sounds basically like a mix between their countrymen in The Vaccines and the Americans in Young The Giant. They have the driving tempos and straightforward simplicity of the former, and their fuzzy vocals and the bright surf-rock-styled tone of their guitars are highly reminiscent of the latter.

The mood of the album is light and warm then, like a summer breeze, and it makes you think of sitting outside in the waning sun, thinking back to fleeting romances of previous summers. To say it's immediately enjoyable is an understatement, and songs from the album figure to be playing from hip clothing stores near you soon if they aren't already. That's not a knock on the band though, as plenty of their songs, when heard separately, have catchy little bits in them that are quite charming. Openers "Get Away" and "T-Shirt Weather" establish this right away, yet they also demonstrate a similarity right off the bat that is symptomatic of the thirteen track album overall.

When you listen to "Young Chasers" as a whole, the main downside to the experience is that too many of the songs feel like they're barely distinct variations on the same formula. There are attempts at changes of pace in songs like "Lost It" for instance, but these lack impact, and instead it ends up being the energy of the faster tracks that make you overlook Circa Waves' shortcomings. As such, the speedy title track of the album thrives by the rising, drawn out croons of its chorus, and later on the albums "Stuck In My Teeth" is a good example alongside "So Long", the latter of which has a particularly moody charm in its story about that friend who keeps pining for the girl he should probably just give up on.

All in all, "Young Chasers" is an easy, pleasant listen, and if you think of it as a collection of separate singles, most of the tracks function infectiously enough to stack up well theoretically. When listened to end on end though, your attention can easily drift as it starts to feel like the band is milking the same approach one time too many, and the lack of diversity in Circa Waves' expression figures to hurt the longevity of their album down the stretch. Expect to make note of a small handful of favourite tracks then, to throw on through the summer, more so than to dig up the album for all that many back to back spins in the future.

7

Download: T-Shirt Weather, Get Away, Young Chasers, So Long
For The Fans Of: The Vaccines, Young The Giant, The Kooks, The Strokes
Listen: facebook.com/CircaWaves

Release date 25.02.2015
Universal

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