On a stifling evening back in 2008, during a gig at Brighton’s Concorde 2, Feeder frontman Grant Nicholas didn’t take too kindly to requests from the crowd to play the hits as they raced through material from their sixth studio effort ‘Silent Cry’. It was, however, at this point that their songs began to tumble in comparison to their predecessors.
Fast forward to just over a decade later and we arrive at LP 10, ‘Tallulah’. It’s a collection Nicholas has described as a “road trip” album and, fortunately, things are a lot more impressive here than their mid-period dips into mediocrity. Its strengths lend credibility to Nicholas’s declaration that he finds himself writing more as he gets older.
Having gone ‘single crazy’ during 2018, the 12 tracks here are all new, again supporting Nicholas’s claims. The Foo Fighters-like Fear of Flying, Daily Habit—a song that paints relationship analogies via today’s coffee culture—and opener Youth are the album’s singles to date and it’s the latter that steals the show.
Punchy, adrenalin-fuelled and full of reverb-soaked guitars, it’s an excellent, reflective cut that follows one of their stereotypical paths—the one that works in a similar vein to Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’. But, as well as these propulsive, feel-good faster numbers, Feeder have also made a living from excellent power-ballads.
Youth is followed by one of these in Blue Sky Blue. Having been offered to Liam Gallagher to include on his latest album, a tad too late, as it turned out, this proved to be a lucky break as it plays a starring role in the strong first side of ‘Tallulah’. Running through to the huge title track, which boasts a powerful, exhilarating chorus and mesmerising riff, the opening gambit is brimming with quality from start to finish.
The second half of the album will prove to be more divisive among fans. Kyoto namechecks everything Japanese with a heavier vibe, while the strings-adorned Guillotine tackles current affairs, but they could struggle for playing time in comparison to the early tracks. Feel good power re-emerges on Shapes and Sounds, as well as Windmill, to counteract some lesser moments but perhaps it’s closer Lonely Hollow Days that tops side two.
Nicholas has claimed the “best songs always work acoustically” and while writing he initially knocks out numbers with his acoustic guitar. This one stays that way as he sings of “no more sorrow” and feeling lost—it’s a stunning, yet simple, conclusion. After 2016’s surprisingly enjoyable ‘All Bright Electric’, Feeder released a Best Of in 2017 and it’s testament to Nicholas’s rejuvenated creative abilities that there are three or four tracks on ‘Tallulah’ that could quite easily have found themselves on that collection if it had been delayed a couple of years.
Feeder Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Fri November 01 2019 - PORTSMOUTH Portsmouth Pyramids
Sat November 02 2019 - EXETER Great Hall, Exeter
Mon November 04 2019 - OXFORD O2 Academy Oxford
Tue November 05 2019 - NORWICH Norwich Nick Rayns LCR UEA
Thu November 07 2019 - CARDIFF Cardiff University Students Union
Fri November 08 2019 - LEEDS Leeds Beckett Students Union
Sun November 10 2019 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE O2 Academy Newcastle
Mon November 11 2019 - BIRMINGHAM O2 Institute
Wed November 13 2019 - INVERNESS Ironworks
Thu November 14 2019 - GLASGOW Barrowland
Sat November 16 2019 - MANCHESTER Albert Hall
Sun November 17 2019 - MANCHESTER Albert Hall
Tue November 19 2019 - LINCOLN Engine Shed
Wed November 20 2019 - NOTTINGHAM Rock City
Fri November 22 2019 - LONDON Roundhouse
Sat November 23 2019 - LONDON Roundhouse
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