{"id":2989,"date":"2017-02-17T15:00:32","date_gmt":"2017-02-17T15:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-decade-pleasantries\/"},"modified":"2023-01-20T15:56:11","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T15:56:11","slug":"review-decade-pleasantries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-decade-pleasantries\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Decade –\u00a0Pleasantries"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It did seem, for a moment there, that Decade<\/b><\/a> might not be back. 2013\u2019s debut album \u2018Good Luck<\/a>\u2019<\/i> seems an awfully long time ago, and the fans that it won them could be forgiven for growing impatient. Three years of intermittent touring and no new music came to an end in November, when the Bath five-piece announced that they had made the move to Rude Records, and that \u2018Pleasantries\u2019<\/i> was on its way.<\/p>\n

As it transpires, a change of record label was just one element of Decade<\/b>\u2019s reinvention. Gone are the group\u2019s pop-punk roots that characterised early EPs and \u2018Good Luck\u2019<\/i>; in their place is a startlingly mature, broad sound that nods towards classic Britpop and grunge. A sharp new awareness of rock songcraft is immediately evident, and manifests itself in \u2018Human Being\u2019<\/i>\u2019s thrilling falsetto chorus and \u2018Turn Off Your TV\u2019<\/i>\u2019s driving two-chord riff.<\/p>\n

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Reference points are wide-ranging and laudable \u2013 \u2018Daisy May\u2019<\/i> owes as much to The Raconteurs\u2019 \u2018Steady As She Goes\u2019<\/i> as \u2018Capsules\u2019<\/i> does to \u2018In My Life\u2019<\/i> by The Beatles. Such esteemed influences may be linked to the album\u2019s recording across several prestigious studios, including Abbey Road. Meanwhile, the overlapping, subtly effect-laden guitars of \u2018Brand New Again\u2019<\/i> could be the work of a 90s Jonny Greenwood.<\/p>\n

Melodies are often simple yet irresistible, as in the case of \u2018Can\u2019t Figure You Out\u2019<\/i>\u2019s understated catchiness. Better still is the breathtakingly gorgeous \u2018Sunbeam\u2019<\/i> \u2013 you can almost see Alex Sears\u2019s face illuminated by iPhone torches on the band\u2019s UK tour next month.<\/p>\n

To those that thought Decade<\/b> were finished, \u2018Pleasantries\u2019<\/i> will come as even more of a surprise. This isn\u2019t so much a return as a resurrection: a collection of songs as vivid as the album\u2019s artwork, and more than worth the four-year wait. Sophomore slump? Comeback of the year.<\/p>\n

4.5\/5<\/p>\n