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Further proof that the eighties revival is showing little sign of slowing down anytime soon, The Bravery are another achingly hip band out of New York sporting eyeliner and synths. Like a Depeche Mode to The Killers' Duran Duran, the songs on this their debut album are dark hearted poems set to shiny pop tunes - full of sex, drugs, rock n roll, broken relationships and doomed romance.
The obvious comparisons with The Killers manifest themselves from the get-go, although where the Las Vegas four-piece deal more in anthemic grandstanding and headline grabbing statements, The Bravery have a sound more steeped in the underground touching bases with electro and shoegazing guitarscapes, although that's not to say they don't know their way around a massive pop tune. As opening statements go, AN HONEST MISTAKE, sets the record straight right away. This is the kind of catchy synth pop that's going to see The Bravery catch the ears of the teenage pop kids while still dripping enough underground cred and dark menace to see them getting the cool kids too. Like New Orders' Blue Monday being molested by Depeche Mode, this has enough melodic hooks to hang a whole rack of coats on and throws in the kind of guitar noodling towards the end that would make Slash blush.
Another song steeped in a certain New Order vibe, NO BRAKES, opens on one of those deep throbbing basslines that vibrates the floorboards, while unleashing a chorus so pristine as to make Duran Duran envious. FEARLESS is another colossal pop tune that's going to be ruling this summers radio schedules, with an "and I know that's why you love me, chico" vocal that's destined to be one of those annoying catchphrases all year.
Showing a quieter more introspective side, TYRANT, has one of those sweeping choruses that'll have the lighters in the air come the summer while the straight up indie guitar pop of PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT is The Strokes given an eighties makeover and featuring the best use of the old fire safety saying "stop, drop and roll you're on fire" ever committed to tape.
UNCONDITIONAL has one of those gloriously shimmering guitar sounds that usually only belongs to bands like My Bloody Valentine or Ride, the kind of dreamy dissonance that only comes from cheap effects pedals and way too much time on your hands. Less obviously infectious with more of a creeping melodicism, UNCONDITIONAL, reveals more depth and maturity than much of the material here and shows a band peeling away some of the surface to show a glimpse of bare emotion and feeling.
Hardly putting a foot wrong in terms of massive pop tunes and gleaming production values, THE BRAVERY, is an album that makes for impressively pleasing listening, despite the niggling 'all surface no feeling'
undercurrents and the fact that they're in huge debt to an awful lot of bands taking vital elements from New Order, The Strokes, Hot Hot Heat, Depeche Mode and Duran Duran.
As a great pop album though, this is an impressive debut and a record that's sure to see them thrive over the coming year.

The HQ is on the corner of Mott and Broome, on the edge of New York’s Chinatown. Push through the graffiti-ed door, clamber up the rotten stairs, past the sweatshops and you’ll find the place. It’s where The Bravery have spent the past two years planning operations, obsessively working up their wirey garage-electronics and occasionally venturing out into the city to play the results.
Their first gig was in The Stinger Club in Brooklyn in 2003. 12 months later, their name was plastered all over the Lower East Side to celebrate a sold-out residency at Arlene Grocery on Stanton. In that time, The Bravery (and that’s singer/guitarist Sam Endicott, guitarist Michael Zakarin, bassist Mike H., keyboardist John Conway and drummer Anthony Burulcich) had honed their sound to a dark garage-electro and made sure everyone knew what they were all about.
“We’re called The Bravery because that’s the mindset I was in when I was writing the songs,” explains Sam now. “Everyone in my age group wants to know what they’re going to do with their lives. They all think that they’re worth nothing and they’re heading nowhere. People are drowning in these thoughts and I just got sick of it. I didn’t want to be like that.
“The name is also connected with living in New York in this really weird time. People are constantly waiting for something bad to happen. I wrote these songs and formed this band to make sure I didn’t get overcome by that sense of fear. That’s what this band is about – standing tall and not being afraid.”
Sam has no time for excuses. He grew up in Maryland, in the DC suburbs, and was heavily influenced by the area’s intense post-punk scene. He’d go and see bands like Fugazi and Jawbox and be impressed by their DIY ethic. He quickly adopted it as his own philosophy and it’s something that feeds directly into The Bravery. They do everything – they make the records, the artwork, the videos, everything. They know what they want and how they want to do it.
“I don’t really like mainstream music at all,” admits Sam. “When I listen to the radio or watch MTV, 99% of it is like listening to an air-conditioner or a hair-dryer. Sometimes, though, something comes along that jolts you. When I was growing up, it was bands like Nirvana and Jane’s Addiction. Those bands elevate culture. I don’t think there’s any point in aiming for anything less.”
One thing that sometimes puzzles people about The Bravery is why they sound electronic when all the bands they like are punk guitar bands. Sam doesn’t know why they sound like they do. He just wanted to do something different.
Of course, the circumstances in which they recorded their album (most of it was constructed in a friend’s bedroom with Radio Shack mics and an old iMac) and the fact that Sam’s best friend John Conway is totally obsessed with analog keyboards obviously helped shape their sound.
“People always say we sound like New Order and Duran Duran,” laughs Sam, “"It's funny, because I don't really know those bands that well. I’ve listened to a few of their songs recently, though, and they sound cool – just not like us."
The Bravery are now signed to Loog in the UK and Island Def Jam in America.
Their first release arrives this November in the form of a brilliant three track EP and they play the UK at the same time. The album will follow in the new year. In the meantime, all communications with the band should be directed through Rachel Hendry at the Darling Department.

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