LIFELINE: Second album finally released
AN UPBEAT, jumpy and utterly catchy debut for The Answering Machine, with their widely praised full on indie-pop delight of an album, ‘Another City, Another Sorry’, meant a lot was expected from the Mancunian quartet’s second record.
Often it is said that the first sequel is always the hardest to get right but the band’s second album, ‘Lifeline’, is a somewhat different animal to its predecessor, in part due to the fact that it was self produced.
Rather than those raucous guitar riffs leading a high tempo sound, this offering shows us a softer and mellower side to the group.
The first single to come from the album, ‘Animals’, is a great example of a slow roast guitar fest, with glittering strums mid-verse, before an upbeat riff and synth combination transform Martin Colclough’s clear vocals.
Title track and second single, ‘Lifeline’, is another track that experiments with an electro undertone that underlines an ever-changing guitar riff before the mid-tempo chorus is let loose as Colclough sings: “throw me a lifeline, I know we’re going to work this out”.
‘So Alive’ is a delightful retrospective summer road trip of a song, taking you on the proverbial Answering Machine tour bus with Colclough’s innocent sounding narration covering a bright and bouncy guitar riff and tinkling electronic soundtrack.
Few lowlights attempt to blur this 11 track collection of upbeat, low tempo delights although ‘My Little Navy’ and ‘Romance and Square’ don’t deliver quite as much as personal highlight ‘3 Miles’.
The former is a sweet lullaby that can pass you by a little bit before a rockier guitar section takes precedence, whereas the latter’s chorus isn’t as strong as the title track for instance although its pacey beat rings of Two Door Cinema Club.
The four minute, love-laden ‘3 Miles’ combines emotive acoustic and electric guitars, stretched out harmonies from bassist Gemma Evans and some beautiful lyrics, none more so than, “the veins, the blood, the cracks in the street, my heart breaks a little more with every beat.”
It rings of self-production and that patience that is so evident in the charmingly raw ‘Rules’ that’s retro sounding instrumentation sounds more Simon & Garfunkel than fresh indie, but it just works.
One track that could easily fit in their first release is the surging ‘Hospital Lung’ that’s juggernaut of a guitar-riff powers throughout, barring some great tempo changes that serve just to reel you back in.
Overall The Answering Machine have delivered a follow-up befitting of their first album.
A change in direction that adds more depth without changing the band’s ethos as one that knows exactly how to deliver a catchy chorus has paid serious dividends here.
9/10
Also published on www.virgin.com
http://www.virgin.com/music/reviews/the-answering-machine-provide-a-lifeline
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