The Enemy – 'We’ll Live And Die In These Towns' (Warner) Released 09/07/07

‘We’ll Live And Die In These Towns’ is one of those albums that it’s hard to make your mind up over. Just as you’re ready to dismiss it as the work of yet another generic indie band filtering the work of every British guitar group of the last fifty years, a tiny snatch of something sweet and unknown hits your ears and stays your hand. Take the song ‘Away From Here.’ Its first few lines pass without a glimpse of excitement or insight as lead singer Tom Clarke moans that “name badges are not interesting” in a distinctly unmusical fashion. But there’s something about that wordless chorus that keeps drawing you back in. Then there’s ‘This Song,’ with its epic build-up and euphoric horns.
 
But these moments are few and far between, and more than anything, The Enemy are lacking are sound they can truly claim as their own. Album opener ‘Aggro’ is a bland stomp that sounds like a less trippy Kasabian. The title track is so obviously influenced by The Jam that it’s almost not worth saying it out loud. Even the anthemic quality of ‘This Song’ is of the kind usually reserved for pop songs played at the end of mid-90s contemporary British TV dramas.
 
From the title of the album it’s not hard either to guess what kind of thing they’re singing about. The humdrum routine of a (sub)urban life has flowed from the pen of many a songwriter over the years. Yet unlike love, loss, sex or death, it’s difficult to see this as a truly universal theme, and with bands from Bloc Party to Hard Fi following a similar vein recently, you can’t help but feel this is an over-trodden lyrical path
 
Ultimately The Enemy are a band of few ideas and even fewer good ones. Their music may have just enough energy and accessibility to keep them from teetering into the void of instantly forgotten indie obscurity. But on ‘We’ll Live And Die In These Towns’ they lack either the solid song writing or the originality to become anything more than a fringe act. It took a while but I made my mind up after all.