Photo: Hans-Peter van Velthoven
Stereophonics - White Lies
Review by - James McGregor
Info: After the Stereophonics announced seven huge shows for summer 2016, including a very special show Kilmainham, the band’s anthemic new single White Lies is set for release on 8th April.
Written by Kelly Jones and produced by Kelly and Jim Lowe, 'White Lies' is taken from the band’s UK number one album Keep The Village Alive. The single is one of the album’s many highlights and showcases the band’s ability to create a sound that is at once both powerfully atmospheric and endearingly intimate.
Stereophonics' new single 'White Lies' is an unapologetic pop song, which comes as a surprise to me as the band’s third single from the album Keep the Village Alive: the previous two singles being 'C’est La Vie' and 'I Wanna Get Lost With You'. I’m not sure what exactly it is about this song that gives it more of a pop sound than the rest of the album and certainly the two previous singles taken off it, but 'White Lies' is clearly in a different place to the other songs. The chorus is huge, and the melody catchy as they come.
With lyrics that are both simple and direct there's a sense that Jones & Co. had 'White Lies' ear-marked with large live venues in mind. I feel like this bodes well for the band, who I imagine will receive a great public reaction from this release: perhaps moreso even than the previous singles, which, while able to stand on their own merits, were closer to the bands original sound. Here we are experiencing more open top balladry than their trademark pop-rock.
I do think the decision to make a single out of, what I perceive to be, a clear outlier in the album is bold, but I also have an inkling that this bold move will pay off for the Welsh four-piece. It does leave me wondering whether, with this third release, the band are foreshadowing the future Stereophonics’ sound and moving further from their starting point as we edge closer to the 20th anniversary of their 1997 debut album, Word Gets Around.
Stereophonics play on June 30th at Royal Hospital Kilmainham with special guests The Vaccines. Tickets are on sale now from ticketmaster.ie and outlets nationwide.
