{"id":2696,"date":"2017-03-21T14:45:16","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T14:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-benchmarks-our-undivided-attention\/"},"modified":"2018-03-22T22:43:53","modified_gmt":"2018-03-22T22:43:53","slug":"review-benchmarks-our-undivided-attention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-benchmarks-our-undivided-attention\/","title":{"rendered":"Review:\u00a0Benchmarks –\u00a0Our Undivided Attention"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Despite being referred to as \u2018Music City, USA’, Nashville is not associated with a great number of contemporary artists. Kings Of Leon notwithstanding, it is difficult to name a successful rock band from the Tennessee city, and even the Followills’ gargantuan chart-guzzlers bear no resemblance to Nashville’s famous country music. Benchmarks<\/b>, however, deliver a stripped back, honest brand of rock \u2018n’ roll that holds onto some part of the working-class American, folk origins that their hometown is known for.<\/p>\n

Following 2015 EP \u2018American Night’<\/i>, \u2018Our Undivided Attention’<\/i> is the first album from the band fronted by Todd Farrell Jnr. Unapologetically simple rock songs are characterised by wholesome, warm guitars and Farrell’s reflective lyrics, concerning the singer’s severe ADHD and the trials of growing up. At its best, the charm of small-town spirit is both sad and hopeful: \u2018I want to help you find your lost dog, I want to go and see my friend’s band play downtown’<\/i> muses Farrell Jnr simply on\u2018Let You Down’<\/i>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The lively \u2018Sharks And Minnows’<\/i> has vocal and guitar hooks aplenty, sounding like the group enjoying themselves and in full flow. Unfortunately, the rest of the album is scarcely as stimulating, at times proving lyrically rambling as on \u2018Thieves And Assassins’<\/i>, while \u2018Days Are Slow’<\/i>’s lazy chorus scales are just melodically poor.<\/p>\n

Sparse opener \u2018This Year’<\/i> demonstrates the potential of Farrell’s natural vocal style to be genuinely affecting, particularly in its subtler moments. Reprised in the closing \u2018Next Year’<\/i>, the repeated \u2018I know next year, things will be better’<\/i> gains further potency when sung by voices in unison. It is one of the album’s finer moments, and leaves a not entirely representative aftertaste.<\/p>\n

The irony of this Benchmarks<\/b> effort is that it will hold the undivided attention of few. Although it is refreshing in many ways to hear such a no-nonsense, endearingly simple rock sound, \u2018Our Undivided Attention’<\/i> is often glaringly average and lacking in inspiration. For Benchmarks<\/b> to become one of the great Music City exports, there is much work yet to be done.<\/p>\n

2.5\/5<\/p>\n

‘Our Undivided Attention’<\/i> by Benchmarks<\/b> is released on 24th March on SofaBurn Records<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Benchmarks<\/b> links: Website<\/a>|Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a>|Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Peter Stewart(@PeteStew_<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite being referred to as \u2018Music City, USA’, Nashville is not associated with a great number of contemporary artists. Kings Of Leon notwithstanding, it is difficult to name a successful rock band from the Tennessee city, and even the Followills’ gargantuan chart-guzzlers bear no resemblance to Nashville’s famous country music. Benchmarks, however, deliver a stripped […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[2080,2090,15030,2091],"class_list":["post-2696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-benchmarks","tag-our-divided-attention","tag-peter-stewart","tag-sofaburn-records"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReview:\u00a0Benchmarks -\u00a0Our Undivided Attention - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Despite being referred to as \u2018Music City, USA’, Nashville is not associated with a great number of contemporary artists. 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