Brass Phantoms - City of Wolves (single)
Info: Dublin four-piece alternative rock troupe Brass Phantoms released their sophomore E.P., City of Wolves, this week. The collection of four tracks was recorded at Westland Studios in Dublin and follows the release of the very well-received title-track and lead single.
The opener 'City of Wolves' grabs the attention straight away, with a deep rolling bass-line and snappy drum beat leading up to the rapid looping guitar riff which carries both verses and chorus very well. My observation last month that 'There's a sharp focus on matching pop inclinations on the guitar riffs with a more expansive sonic range which is particularly evident in the backing vocal effect. 'City of Wolves' is enjoyably hectic and upbeat simultaneously and three and a half minutes never went quicker...' still stands with the title-track providing a huge amount of appeal even on first listen.
'One O'Clock in Bangkok' initially had me thinking Julian Casablancas vocally and to a lesser extent musically nodding toward The Strokes debut album, but there's also a distinct jangle-pop The Smiths' strain running through parts of the track, and a very interesting, almost Oriental if you will, opening guitar riff. Another stand-out for me came in the form of third track, 'Every Sensation', Brass Phantoms showing zero signs of toning proceedings down, if you're looking for a weepy lovelorn ballad you've come to the wrong place. This track glides so easily, notably pop-tinged but again lead-guitar and especially the drums put the rock stamp all over this on, and the solo after the 2-minute mark is delicious.
Brass Phantoms - Every Sensation
After the first few bars of closing track 'I'm Accessible' I thought, ah here's the slow-down, wrong, as the band crash in once again, and here is Brass Phantom's strength, they are comfortable writing the big songs but also back it up with how tight they are in executing them, rhythms are solid and clean. The raucous finale of distorted guitars and drums land one last punch before they decide to give us about 20 seconds respite with a Pixies-esque bass-line and twangy guitar outro. On City of Wolves Brass Phantoms have done pretty much everything right, there's little room for improvement, as pop-tinged rock goes they have nailed it with their song-writing and successfully achieved what they set out to do.
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