Alt mash up.
There are a ton of ideas and influences at work on this sophomore, self-produced and recorded album from the South Wales based alt-rockers; immediately springing to mind are The Mars Volta, Incubus and The Manic Street Preachers - quite an eclectic mix. Vocally James Kennedy, the band’s guitarist and singer, has perfected an emotional croon which is expressive and quite versatile, doing the job nicely.
Musically the band ranges from off kilter and jagged rock tunes to acoustic ballads, some moments are quite heavy with a quirky edge and keyboard backing. They bring to mind Muse whilst the mid-range tracks are reminiscent of The Manic Street Preachers at times and a couple of tracks even come across as a strange electro prog mash up. This mixture can be a bit disconcerting and even after repeated listens the record is not very cohesive and it makes one wonder whether this is because they don’t quite have the resources to pull off the sound that they would really like to make yet; there are sometimes moments that seem to want to be theatrical and epic but don’t quite achieve this.
While “Paradigm” sometimes doesn’t gel into a cohesive whole, some of its parts are really decent; they certainly know how to do complex and quirky riffs and the heavy moments are great; there are also some pretty good melodies.
This is a band that strives to be individual and quirky and definitely achieves this.
Interesting.