Track Listing > >
I Can't Come Down (Radio Edit) / I Can't Come Down (Acoustic) / I Can't Come Down (Album Version) / Contender (Live) / Heart And Soul (Live) / I Can't Come Down (Live) / I Can't Come Down (Demo)
INDEPENDIENTE
Recorded at Olympic Studios and Britannia Road, London and Blue Skies Studio, Granada, Spain
Produced by Youth
It's hard to get excited about a new Embrace record these days, it's something to do with the way that you always know exactly what you're getting each time round. Not a band to go out on a limb and take chances, Embrace instead opt to keep on doing what they know best - churning out those big anthemic rock songs, a sprinkling of piano here, a soaring chorus there.
Taken from their fifth album THIS NEW DAY, new single I CAN'T COME DOWN is business as usual; they're not about to mess with the formula, finding Embrace at perhaps their least ambitious yet. With suitably colossal sounding production duties handled by Youth, Embrace find themselves echoing the likes of Echo and the Bunnymen or U2 - continuing down that road as stadium slaying wannabes.
I CAN'T COME DOWN sees Danny McNamara practising his tortured croon over sweeping pianos and bombastic drum beats; Embrace here sadly reduced to sounding like a weak Coldplay b-side.
It's perhaps indicative of where Embrace are in 2006, still churning out the songs - but lacking the conviction and spirit that made them soar in the past. This is Embrace at their most formulaic and predictable yet, disappointingly average.
BIOGRAPHY
September 20th 2004 and Embrace celebrate the biggest comeback since Lazarus as their fourth album OUT OF NOTHING enters the UK chart at No. 1. Two years previously the band had been out of a deal, three members were on the dole and things looked very bleak indeed for Embrace. As 2006 kicks off, the band can reflect on eighteenth months in which they've scored four hit singles, played the biggest headlining gigs of their career and watched OUT OF NOTHING sell over 600,000 copies in the UK alone.
No wonder their forthcoming album THIS NEW DAY is such a self-assured record. This is the sound of a revitalised band bursting with renewed confidence. And as the album title might suggest, it also celebrates a whole new approach to both writing and recording for Embrace.
Previously the song writing partnership of Danny and Richard McNamara took the lead but this time round all five members took to jamming in the studio, the end result being that everyone had a hand in the songwriting process. As Danny explains, "As kids we grew up listening to bands like Joy Division, Echo and The Bunnymen and U2, bands who've always used this technique, but it's something we'd never tried before. It's been an incredibly inspiring experience and really feels like a whole new start for us".
With 24 songs written in just nine days, the songs on THIS NEW DAY flowed thick and fast, another new experience for Danny. "I've always found it tough writing new material and likened it to Bob Dylan's quote that writing songs is like mining for diamonds. Youth put me straight on that one. As he sees it, it's an amazing party you don't realise you've been invited to. The songs are all around you and it's just a question of finding them. And he's right".
In terms of the lyrics Danny says they're the most personal he's ever written. "I'd always felt I was about 20 feet from fire, this time round I'm standing right in the middle of it". Whilst he's reticent about revealing who might have inspired the lyrics, the narrative on debut single NATURE'S LAW is indicative of this new trend. Destined to be the soundtrack of spring 2006, it features an insanely catchy piano riff courtesy of keyboard player Mickey Dale.
With Youth once again taking care of production, A NEW DAY was recorded both at his studio in Granada, Spain and Olympic and Britannia Row Studios in London.
LINE UP
Danny McNamara>vocals
Richard McNamara>guitars/vocals
Steven Firth>bass
Michael Heaton>drums/percussion/vocals
Mickey Dale>keyboards/vocals
DISCOGRAPHY
THE GOOD WILL OUT (1998>Mobetta/Hut Recordings)
Intro
All You Good Good People
My Weakness Is None Of Your Business
Come Back To What You Know
One Big Family
Higher Sights
Retread
I Want The World
You've Got To Say Yes
Fireworks
The Last Gas
That's All Changed Forever
Now You're Nobody
The Good Will Out
DRAWN FROM MEMORY (2000>Hut Recordings/Virgin Records)
The Love It Takes
You're Not Alone
Save Me
Drawn From Memory
Bunker Song
New Adam New Eve
Hooligan
Yeah You
Liars Tears
I Wouldn't Wanna Happen To You
I Had A Time
YOU'VE NEVER BEEN (2001>Hut Recordings/Virgin Records)
Over
I Hope You're Happy Now
Wonder
Many Will Learn
It's Gonna Take Time
Hey, What You Trying To Say
If You've Never Been In Love With Anything
Make It Last
Happiness Will Get You In The End
Satellites
OUT OF NOTHING (2004>Independiente)
Ashes
Gravity
Someday
Looking As You Are
Wish 'Em All Away
Keeping
Spell It Out
A Glorious Day
Near Life
Out Of Nothing
THIS NEW DAY (2006>Independiente)
No Use Crying
Nature's Law
You Will Hit The Target Every Time
Sainted
I Can't Come Down
Celebrate
Exploding Machines
Even Smaller Stones
The End Is Near
This New Day
WORLD AT YOUR FEET (Independiente>2006)
World At Your Feet
I CAN'T COME DOWN (Independiente>2006)
I Can't Come Down (Radio Edit)
I Can't Come Down (Acoustic)
I Can't Come Down (Album Version)
Contender (Live)
Heart And Soul (Live)
I Can't Come Down (Live)
I Can't Come Down (Demo)
LINKS
Embrace>www.embrace.co.uk
Independiente>www.independiente.co.uk
FURTHER LISTENING
Coldplay>A Rush Of Blood To The Head (2002>Parlophone)
Oasis>(What's The Story) Morning Glory? (1995>Creation)
Doves>The Last Broadcast (Heavenly Recordings)
Review date: November 2006 |
