Car Boot Records
The heavy guitar lead “Another Step”is the debut album from Manchester quartet City Reign, and is an expressive burst of story, doing indie how indie should be done.
The tracks were all recorded in Salford’s Scared Trinity Church, so the songs have a striking natural reverb; the cymbals don’t crash, they shatter, and the vocals wrap around your ears like sharp ribbons. This works in the band’s favour especially so in the stripped back “Retaliate”, which has a much more vulnerable sound compared to the other instrumentally layered songs; it’s not perfect vocally, but the breaks in Bull’s voice are so emotionally truthful that it doesn’t really matter.
The record itself is both open and intimate – from the metaphorical lyrics of “Anchor” to the simple and catchy hook “Say want you want, I’m not listening…” in “Daybreak”, making it more accessible to those ears not so fond of indie, unlike the pretentiously “hipster” music from most bands in the genre.
One of City Reign’s strengths is how the band successfully builds up to each song without becoming monotonous or boring. “Ahead Of Ideas” accumulates slowly to a momentous breakdown of sound, bursting with atmosphere and passion.
Another Step might be more indie than most of you would like to think about, but those of us who don’t mind the odd Oasis number; it’s a definite promising start to the band’s music career. ***1/2
Samaa Husain
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