There seems to be so many indie bands nowadays that it is becoming increasingly more difficult for bands to break through. Air Traffic have managed to get over the first massive hurdle, by signing to EMI. Fractured Life shows exactly why they managed to stand out, through a well balanced album, delivering one good song after the other.
On first listen to the album, the first band which sprang to mind as an influence was Coldplay. However although some of the songs do have that sort of ring to them, with little more investigation it became apparent that the more punchy/upbeat songs, have a lot more sharpness about them, such as `Charlotte' and `Just Abuse Me'. This shows that they have a side which sets them apart from the likes of Coldplay. For instance you wouldn't hear Chris Martin singing `I'm wasted, face down on the floor...'. These songs really do have the `feel good' factor about them, making for good festival tunes. Reminds me a bit of `Guillemots', especially with the upbeat piano in some of the songs.
One song on the album that does have a Coldplay feel towards it is `No more running away', as it feels like they trying to achieve the same kind of impact on the listener as `Fix You'. Although not quite reaching the same standard; they're certainly not too far off, which is impressive considering this is only their first attempt, and `Fix you' was Colplay's third! The song itself starts off with 3 members taking up drum duty for the first half of the song, creating a great rhythmic back drop to Chris Wall's vocals and piano. In the second half of the song, the guitarist and bassist take up their `preferred' instruments, taking the song up a gear with Chris Wall's vocals in full flight.
Although I feel `No more running away' is nearly there in terms of greatness. `Shooting Star' definitely is there and would not look out of place on any `Best of Festivals this summer...' type albums. Unless of course the rest of the songs on the album were rubbish! This song has everything; catchy chorus, guitar solo (simple but effective) and a good mixture of slow build ups alongside crashing guitar bursts. Its one of those songs you can picture yourself being in a car; accelerating and decelerating in time with the music, like in the Snow Patrol video for `Open your eyes'. Nevertheless, this song is a lot more dramatic in terms of quiet and loud bits. Especially at the start of the song, as it goes along quite nicely around 30mph. Then around the 25 second mark where it accelerates ferociously up to 70mph in matter of seconds. Another example is the guitar solo, as it slowly builds up giving you a breathier after the chorus. At this point it feels like your back down, driving at 10mph until eventually you are driving at 70mph once more. 70mph is good analogy in terms of the song as whole as well, as you never feel like its going over the speed limit, i.e. - out of control, but it does reach what you feel is the acceptable limit. For me, this is by far and away the stand out track of the album.
The album finishes with the song `Fractured Life' , in which you can almost feel the pain and suffering talked about in the song through the emotion in Chris Wall's voice and through lyrics such as "Cos if it can't work out what's right and fair its time to escape". This combined with the slow piano adds to the emotion. It is very similar to Coldplay's `Amsterdam' on their `Rush of Blood to the Head' album, as it has got the same sort of structure to the song. In the same vain it is a cracking end to an album. Until, you turn round to your CD player realising its still running! Yes, it is one of those albums with a `hidden' track. For this one you only have to wait over ten minutes! Even with the fast forward button it's an irritating effort. However it is worth a skip to every now and then as it's a well crafted instrumental.
Overall though, this a fine debut and I think they have the right ingredients to make an even better album. In order to have any kind of longevity I think they need to be more adventurous with the structure and depth of the songs, which I'm sure will come in time as their abilities and band chemistry improves. Not only to distinguish it from this album, but also from bands like Coldplay. I know I have mentioned that band a lot as a comparison, and to be honest if you don't like Coldplay I very much doubt that you will like this album, especially the softer songs. However, Air Traffic do have a great vocalist and with a mixture of the softer piano-laden songs with the punchy more upbeat songs, they can set themselves apart from the rest. Definitely a band to look out for in the future!
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