The Features – 'Exhibit A' (Temptation Records) Released 18/04/05

 

 

 

The album opens with the self titled album track ‘Exhibit A’, which epitomises what the The Features are about.  Quirky up-tempo verses are combined with searing choruses, crafted with a mix of garage rock guitar riffs, edgy vocals, and retro organ melodies.  The album then continues a common theme, meandering between instant pop numbers to darker psychedelic tracks. 

 

The Features are like The Coral with a high voltage cable running through their spines.  Their songs are played with such energy, emphasised by lead singer Mathew Pelham, giving you the feeling that The Features may actually explode any second.  The band certainly have potential, with the ability to appeal to both its underground garage rock followers, as well as its mainstream commercial onlookers.  Latest single ‘Blow It Out’ perfectly demonstrates this, with a chorus so catchy that it will stick in your head for hours whether you like it or not, as Pelham screams the compulsively addictive lyrics “Well if your happy and you know, turn the volume up, and blow it out”. 

 

However, if you are still sitting on the fence, unsure if this is all The Features have in their locker, then you will be pleasantly surprised.  The band continues to deliver instant pop rock hits, including the mind-blowing ‘Leave it all behind’, as it pulsates with psychedelic organ melodies.  A more sentimental facet of The Features is also revealed with the wonderful ‘The idea of growing old’, showing that the band can provide more intense lyrics whilst still maintain their rapid bursts of energetic pop rock.

 

At only 32 minutes long, some may feel slightly short changed, however the bands sound would not be right if their songs were any longer, and it is this instantaneous energy that make The Features worth listening to – a solid debut.