I wanted to rate it 8.5 but I went with 8 because 9 might be too high. I'm sure eventually I'll get to 9 after more listens.

Christian @ 9/10/2019 19:21

I wanted to rate it 8.5 but I went with 8 because 9 might be too high. I'm sure eventually I'll get to 9 after more listens.

High marks! I'm going to finish the album today but so far I'm in that range also

I'm impressed. This band of FE youngins actually found good music for once. I would definitely have no issues playing it many more times.

"Hellfire" and "Glitter and Gold" were probably my two favorite songs, although there were a couple others pretty close as well.

I give this album a solid 8.

I've had Hellfire stuck in my head since this afternoon.

going with a 4. I didn't HAAATE it but it's the exact kind of overly poppy rock I tend to stay away from

agreed with Lamps that Goodbye John Smith was the best song, prob the only one I'd listen to again

only song I HATED was Champion just cuz that's the exact kind of generic song that'd be played over sports broadcast outros ad nauseum until your reaction shifts from indifference to outright loathing hearing a single note of it, and it felt almost conscious of that fact. FUCK that song!

I listened to this 3 or 4 times now, and I still don't know how to rate it. That is kind of a good thing, because it doesn't get old after 3-4 listens and it's still interesting enough that I wouldn't mind listening again. For now, it's lacking songs that I REALLY like, except for Goodbye John Smith, and Hands also stood out I think.

Ok gonna do a song by song.


1. Fire - Good song. I'm not the biggest fan of the chorus, it's a bit over the top I guess. Otherwise good song that can get stuck in your head easily. Good opening song in particular. I hear The Killers, The Fratellis, Franz Ferdinand, with his own twist. 7/10

2. Glitter & Gold - This sounds similar to Fire to me... like, conceptually it really is similar. Kind of repetitive and a bit cheesy, not my favorite, not bad either. 5/10

3. Hands - This is really good from start to end. I might have hated this at the first listen, but it grew on me a lot. Also it's a little loud, so not a good medicine in case of a headache lol. May go back to hating this later, but right now I like it. 7/10

4. Golden Dandelions - Just a good song, gets a bit repetitive towards the end. 6/10

5. Hellfire - Most interesting intro so far. This would have been a great song without the chorus... lol... I hate it. It's so predictable! 5/10

6. Hobo Rocket - I can't handle so many pop songs. At this point I'm kinda meh on this pop sound that is in every song. On its own this song is not bad at all though. 6/10

7. Hobo Outside Tesco, London - I like this a lot, but it's not really a song.

8. Champion - I like this, it's different, gets stuck in my head easily. It is a bit cheesy and predictable, but this one I can handle. 6/10

9. Kicks - Another song that I like. Just a good song. Similar sound again, but on it's own a good song. 7/10

10. Never Let You Down - This is probably one of the most poppy songs, but because it's different from the other songs, I don't really mind how poppy this is. I am a fan of the vocals in this one. The bridge is excellent. 8/10

11. Goodbye John Smith - The more I hear this the more I love it. The vocals... damn... such a beautiful song. 9/10

12. Little Boy - The intro is alright, but I know I hate the rest of this song so skipped it. 3/10

13. Rather Die - Yeah, this is just filler imo... it's loud, could have done without it! Just doesn't add anything. 4/10

14. The Attractions of Youth - This one kind of stands out, but it also gets a bit annoying towards the end. Good song though. 7/10

I added Never Let You Down and Goodbye John Smith to my liked songs. Not sure what my third favorite is.

Overall this is a really good album. I'm glad I gave it time and I did enjoy it. It will not change my life. Going to give this a good and well deserved 7.

Are we doing a November one? I liked this album so ready for the next.

We certainly are. I'll post the thread tomorrow, feel free to start considering your nomination

Listened to this album a couples times through now, and dont' have time for a more thorough review, but gave it a 7. I have really enjoyed this album and will be listening to it again! Great turnaround from the past couple of months

Gonna give this a 6. Overall it was a decent listen, but there is nothing great here imo. I think a lot of these songs had potential, but they failed to reach it.

I could hear a much more interesting direction a lot of them could have gone down (interesting to me at least)

I thought the chorus' were weak on most of the songs, and way too predictable. Sounded like this guy was trying to write songs for Radio 1. I don't blame him, the explosive chorus trick is very effective...but it gets a tad tedious when used on nearly every song.

All that said, it was pretty good in places. I probably won't listen to it again...I don't even listen to albums I really like more than once. So I go by first impressions almost all the time. And my first impression of this was: Meh, this is pretty good I guess.

Standout tracks:

Golden Dandelions

This was my favourite one. The harmonies and the acoustic guitar are really nice. Good melody. I might listen to this song again at least.

Goodbye John Smith

This was a well timed change of pace. It had a strong melody and the lyric was good.

Hobo Rocket

This had something. It sounded like a Beck song (I'm pretty sure he name-dropped him in the lyrics.) The chorus was meh though.

Attractions of Youth

Again, a well placed song. It's an appropriate closer.

And the most disappointing song award goes to:

Hobo Outside Tesco, London

I had high expectations after reading the weird title, but it turned out to be a filler track. I do at least like the idea of having an interlude. It creates the impression that the album has two sides, which is clever.

He clearly put a lot of thought into the order of the tracks, so credit to him for that.

How'd you come across this guy Christian?

Ahoda @ 9/10/2019 7:55

5 songs in and the lead singer sounds like a male Adele. Seems ok so far. Something I would probably like more with more listens through.

Ha! I'm glad I forgot about this post before listening to it, otherwise I would have probably given it a lower rating.

Boc @ 10/10/2019 19:20

only song I HATED was Champion just cuz that's the exact kind of generic song that'd be played over sports broadcast outros ad nauseum until your reaction shifts from indifference to outright loathing hearing a single note of it, and it felt almost conscious of that fact. FUCK that song!

This is a good way to describe most, if not all of the songs on the album. I kept thinking throughout that they would sound much better if he wasn't so focused on being commercial.

Gave it a 5. It's ok. They use a lot of autotune that when he sings a real song like John Smith you realize how awful his voice is. It irked me.

There's a silly obsession with perfection in a lot of modern music which sucks the life out of it.

Gotta say I didn't hear autotune on this, but maybe I wasn't listening hard enough.

well you know, it makes sense that you say it sounds like he's trying to be commercial. The song "Glitter and Gold" played during the opening credits of a Neflix show called Safe, which is where I originally heard of this young man. And I've been hearing his song "Fire" in a commercial on tv very recently, but I can't remember what it was for.