Album: See The Light
Artist: The Hours
Singles: Big Black Hole
The Hours' debut, Narcissus Road, was one of the better albums of 2007 for me. Unfortunately commercial success has not been great for the band. In this album, the band waltzes straight through the "difficult second album" without too much of a problem.
Big Black Hole
A slow piano build up to what we heard as the first single makes it sound that little bit better, and suitably starts off the album well.
These Days
This sounds anthemic, and keeps up the good direction this album is seeming to take, and it sounds like a good Hours song.
Come On
Another personal favourite, with a great piano part. Shame it's the shortest song on the album. The chorus with the "come on, come on, come on!" sounds like it will sound great live.
Never See You Again
A great song with a larger range of vocals, with another catchy background piano sound.
Car Crash
Quite a comparatively weak song. I kept on expecting it to really turn into something epic, and although it does step up halfway through, it just doesn't sound like the band at their best.
Think Again
OK, so Car Crash was a blip. This, however, is a fantastic 6 minute epic. Slow, deep buildup gives way to a nice, simple little guitar sound.
Love Is An Action
The beat sounds incredibly different for an Hours song, but it works on so many levels. It's quite catchy, and the drums build up, and the song has one of the greatest Hours choruses. And towards the end, it reveals an even better side to it, before it dives into an epic noise. Great song.
The Girl Who Had The World At Her Feet
In my opinion, the weakest song on the album. Following the pattern of Car Crash, in that it hangs about for two minutes for going anywhere, and even then it's not the band doing what they usually do best.
Wall Of Sound
But never mind the blips, this is a slow song that slowly builds up and up until the end, and sounds great.
See The Light
I didn't like this track when it was released in 2008, and although I've listened a bit more carefully, I still don't particularly think it's a great song. And I don't think it works as a closer. But I still think parts of it are good, but over the course of the seven minutes, it just sounds too boring and plain.
On the whole, this album has ups and downs. Since I consider that there are seven ups and three downs (the downs being Car Crash, The Girl Who Had The World... and See The Light, and the ups being the rest), it is easy to rate this album:
For the record, their previous albums: Narcissus Road (7/10)
