I was always taught not to judge a book by its cover. One look at Taking Hayley with their perfectly straight and well-kept fringes and Topman style makes me think of any number of new pop-rock bands out there at the moment. Every town has one. They’re too well made-up to be punk rock but are too “alternative” to be considered a pop act (heaven forbid!) But, remembering the much-used idiom above, I came to this, their debut album ‘Tricks And Games’ with an open mind, ready to give these up-and-coming Birmingham four-piece a fair trial.
After a bizarre electronic instrumental opening track that is cringe-inducing, the album starts “proper’ with ‘Better Luck Next Time’ and all my worst fears are confirmed. Whiny, You Me At Six style vocals mix with a heavily produced, electronic-influenced brand of pop-punk. Think HelloGoodbye at their most twee and you still won’t come close. This is so sweet and sugary it is cavity inducing.
‘Don’t Let Go’ kicks in with another strange electronic noise, making me think these guys are making weird blips a theme of the album, and sounds like a below average Cobra Starship album track. Following this is ‘Tonight,’ which is the piano-led, synth-heavy track, for those playing along with the Emo checklist. It is a love song that I can only imagine had the opposite effect. If you want quality pop romance, try Taylor Swift, not this.
After a pointless twenty-one second long electronic interlude we’re on to ‘Butterflies’ and ‘Up All Night,’ two more identikit tracks from My First Pop Punk Album. Next is ‘From Now Until Forever,’ slower with more balladry, a hint of Mayday Parade and 30 Seconds To Mare without the imagination or musicianship.
By now the song names do not particularly matter. They all merge into one gooey mess of synths, uninspired lyrics and the sound of one reviewer bludgeoning himself to death. After perhaps three more brain rotting tracks and of course some kind of outro, the album finally comes to an end.
Perhaps I’m being overly harsh. These guys are probably as hard-working and passionate about their music as any other band out there. The problem is that passion and endeavour just doesn’t show on this album. I am obviously not their demographic mainly because I haven’t bought Kerrang for the last six years, I am not fourteen years old and I am not a girl. Even so I would expect better of this kind of album. This is the kind of Boys Like Girls copycat album that reeks of cashing in on a teenage craze. There is quality, ultra poppy pop-punk out there (You Me At Six, Mayday Parade, All American Rejects even) but this isn’t it. This is boring and thoughtless lowest-common-denominator music. To coin a popular internet meme, NO STARS EVER.
0/5
‘Tricks And Games’ by Taking Hayley is out now.
Taking Hayley links: Website|Facebook
Words by Thomas ‘The Machine’ White (@whiteywitters)
