Kids In Glass Houses

Smart Casual

Written by: TL on 26/07/2008 00:46:24

That Wales is officially the breeding ground for the new wave of British scene music should by now be known to most people, seeing how bands like Anterior and The Blackout have followed in the slipstream of Funeral For A Friend, Lostprophets and Bullet For My Valentine, and seeing how you can hardly turn a page in Kerrang these days, without another Welsh band sitting there, desperate for your attention. Kids In Glass Houses is another one of those bands, and from reading another of the UK\'s music magazine (the somewhat better) Rock Sound, it seems that the crowd of people lining up to kiss their asses just isn\'t coming to an end anytime soon.

That however, must be a symptom of nationalism more than anything, because I won\'t beat around the bush here. Looking at the other side of the ocean, there\'s a boatload of bands doing the same things as KIGH do, better than they do it, and then there\'s about a gazillion that do it worse. It\'s the same sound every label and it\'s mother is trying to mass produce following in the trail of Fall Out Boy and The Academy Is, with results of various quality such as The Audition, All Time Low, Forever The Sickest Kids, You Me At Six, Everyday Tragedy and oh God I could go on forever.

The first noteworthy thing on the album is \"Easy Tiger\", the first of two tracks that was also on the EP of the same name. Two songs later, \"Saturday\" shows that those are not the only good songs on the album, as it\'s catchy and summery as the band can be. Too bad \"Fisticuffs\" and \"Give Me What I Want\" never become more than filler before and in between the two, and even worse that the five next tracks are generic and uninteresting as hell. Not until track 10, \"Pillow Talk\", does the band manage to catch your attention again, fortunately, the timing is good, because the next track is the other one that\'s returning from the \"Easy Tiger EP\", namely \"Raise Hell\", which is easily the album\'s best song.

Now my main beef with this album, as well as with many of its contemporaries, is the pathetically low level of ambition. Sure, if you can consistently craft good catchy songs, there\'s nothing wrong with settling for being a pop-rock act, but succeeding at this in only four out of twelve cases doesn\'t bode well for Kids In Glass Houses, and after seeing the band live, covering such a classic as Refused\'s \"New Noise\", I would\'ve thought they were aiming a bit higher than this pile of mediocrity. Sadly, I was mistaken, as this record far from lives up to their intriguing and energetic liveshow.

I guess if you don\'t mind music that\'s shallower than the emo-chick who\'s hitting on you on facebook because of how cool your \"Favourite Music\" is, then \"Smart Casual\" will be right up your alley. The intelligent pop rock fan, however, will have an easy time finding a better record to listen to.

6

Download: Raise Hell, Saturday, Easy Tiger
For The Fans Of: The Audition, All Time Low, You Me At Six
Listen: www.myspace.com/kidsinglasshouses

Release date 27.05.2008
Roadrunner Records

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