{"id":24379,"date":"2014-02-26T12:40:44","date_gmt":"2014-02-26T12:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-blood-red-shoes-blood-red-shoes\/"},"modified":"2018-03-17T15:33:35","modified_gmt":"2018-03-17T15:33:35","slug":"album-review-blood-red-shoes-blood-red-shoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-blood-red-shoes-blood-red-shoes\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Blood Red Shoes – Blood Red Shoes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image\"There are a group of UK bands that can justifiably be described as \u2018festival fodder\u2019. They seem to appear on at least two or three line-ups a year, and can usually be found around the middle of a smaller stage bill. If you\u2019ve really got nothing better to do, you might go and see them \u2013 but actually you know what? That \u00a34 tray of tempura is looking good right now and I could do with a piss anyway.<\/p>\n

Breeders are one example. The Guillemots are another. And so too are Brighton duo Blood Red Shoes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This eponymously titled effort is their fourth studio album following \u2018In Time To Voices\u2019<\/em>, released two years ago. It was recorded by the band themselves in Berlin without the intervention of producers or engineers, and singer\/guitarist Laura-Mary Carter has spoken of the freedom of musical expression they felt working without a leash.<\/p>\n

Their style is fairly unique in the respect that there\u2019s no bassist \u2013 just drums and axe, with Carter and tub-thumber Steven Ansell sharing singing duties. Carter\u2019s guitar sound is big, fuzzy and heavy, and with the duel vocals they don\u2019t sound stripped bare as you might imagine, but loud and vibrant.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

However, historically they been hampered by just not having the craftsmanship to write a decent album. The one or two stand-out tracks they do manage are tied down by twice as many bog-standard, middle of the road, plodding efforts which go nowhere and evoke little feeling.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s sad to say, but unfortunately \u2018Blood Red Shoes\u2019<\/em> is yet another example of this habit, and it\u2019s even more disappointing because until the halfway stage, things aren\u2019t looking too bad.<\/p>\n

\u2018Welcome Home\u2019<\/em> is the instrumental opening; a dark and dirty riff lurching into existence and setting things up very nicely. This is followed by the stomping, brash Britpop of \u2018Everything All At Once\u2019 and then the sex appeal and attitude of \u2018An Animal\u2019<\/em>. This is a real gem, with an Arctic Monkeys-style groove to it and the killer line \u201cI see that fucking look on your face, I\u2019ll wipe it off one of these days, counting down the hours to my escape<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018Grey Smoke\u2019<\/em> follows; an aptly titled number sounding like something straight out of Deep Purple\u2019s locker, all moody and hedonistic. Afterwards comes \u2018Far Away\u2019<\/em>, a lovely, floaty tune which sweeps along and would have made a great single.<\/p>\n

Instead of this they choose \u2018The Perfect Mess\u2019<\/em>, a totally dull track which is the first of a barren run making up most of the second half of the album. All of the confidence, bite and bile of before seems used up. As Carter sings in the pedestrian \u2018Speech Coma\u2019<\/em>, \u201cIt\u2019s like someone cut out my tongue<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

They briefly recapture their mojo for \u2018Don\u2019t Get Caught\u2019<\/em>, with a riff which bends like a racecar almost coming off a mountain road, but then our ears are again frustrated as the album fizzles out with the meandering \u2018Tightwire\u2019<\/em>. Maybe, on this occasion, too much freedom was a bad thing for Blood Red Shoes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

If this was the first album it would be getting a better rating. But these guys have had plenty of time to find their sound and finally give their audiences something special. What they\u2019ve produced instead is just more of the same old story, and their future looks likely to slip from middle-of-the-roster obscurity to absolute anonymity.<\/p>\n

2\/5<\/p>\n

‘Blood Red Shoes’<\/em> by Blood Red Shoes<\/strong> is released on 3rd March on Jazz Life Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Blood Red Shoes<\/strong> links: Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a>|Website<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Alex Phelan (@listen_to_alex<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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