The Bravery - 'The Bravery' (Loog) Released 14/03/05

Its not often a band that have such a killer lead single deliver the goods with their debut but I’m pleased to announce that ‘The Bravery’ actually lives up to the promise of ‘An Honest Mistake’. If you haven’t been moved by the splendour of said single it may be time to check your pulse, you’re probably dead. An absolute stormer of an opener this paves the path for much of what’s on offer here; all synthy eighties pop with up and down Duran Duran style basslines. The Bravery tell the press at every opportunity that they are quite surprised by how often they are compared to Birmingham’s finest which is a little rich to be honest but who cares? On this form they can do wrong…

There is barely a dull moment on the whole LP and sophomore track ‘No Brakes’ is guaranteed to melt your heart with its gorgeous chorus and desperate lyrical theme about love and self destruction. The whole package is really quite awesome with Sam Endicott’s vocals (which may seem irksome at first) soaring above the beautifully produced (by Endicott himself) melody and rhythm to glorious effect. The best choon to display how well this works is ‘Swollen Summer’ which it would be worth having money on to be their next single. A fast rousing number on which he sounds like a hip version of Robert Smith. This is followed by ‘Public Service Announcement’ which tells us how The Strokes would sound should they ever choose to make a disco record.

Its not completely perfect (but hell what is) the recurrent style of the tracks my be a little too samey for some but to be fair to them as a debut album it really is stunning how accomplished their sound is.  On ‘The Ring Song’ Endicott sings ‘Love in this town - It’s like a joke, I must’ve had fun ‘cause now I’m broke’  I guess we’ve all been there!

In short, you must own this record. It’s hard to imagine how anyone would not be transfixed by it’s satisfying blend of new wave guitars, almost gothic vocals, basslines you would sell your soul on the dancefloor for and tweaking disco synths. The first thing you feel like doing after listening to this LP is play it again… And again… And again… Fantastic.