There are a lot of bands who sound like Alicewell. Chances are you’ll be able to pick up on that as soon as you press play. Still, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the Swedes show on new EP ‘Young Hearts’.
The band undoubtedly adhere to the structure of stadium-sized alt-rock, but they manage to imbue their sound with a thin veneer of extra detail, such as the swooping melodrama of ‘Fireworks’ and ‘No Guilt’s surging chorus. These aren’t huge innovations by any means, but they certainly add that extra level of depth of works to Alicewell’s advantage.
Occasionally these can go slightly awry such as on ‘Somewhere To Belong’ which errs towards being slightly too saccharine, and when they stick to the unchanged mould as on ‘Wide Awake’ they run the risk of becoming lost in the crowd. But for the most part, ‘Young Hearts’ is an extremely confident move by Alicewell, and continuing in this vein in future should certainly reap its rewards sooner rather than later.
3.5/5
‘Young Hearts’ by Alicewell is released on 20th November.
Alicewell links: Website|Facebook|Twitter|Bandcamp
Words by Luke Nuttall(@nuttall_luke)
