Gentle indie-pop
Probably like us you will know Rod Jones, the front man from newcomers The Birthday Suit, as the guitarist from Idlewild. With Idlewild currently on hiatus Rod has gotten together with a bunch of friends and developed this project of jangly, indie-pop tunes. "The Eleventh Hour" is sweetly melodic with tunes like 'Hope Me Home' holding blasts of summery goodness to warm you even in the Autumn cool. The album also delivers some chunky guitar sounds and the production is warm with echoes and drenched in static at times.
Apart from some catchy, poppy melodies don't expect an Idlewild spin off, this is a distinctly separate record, drawing on Rod's influences: 'They Say I Love You' has a Death Cab For Cutie type twang -gently poppy with strings and a soaring, anthemic chorus; 'On My Own' is vaguely reminiscent of Placebo, dark-pop with a hint of new wave synth; 'Sell It All' has a great bass line and a catchy tune and 'Don't Look Down' brings to mind R.E.M.
Despite having a few quite nice tunes and including a number different ideas while remaining cohesive the album never really lifts off- it's very amiable but the tunes never stray too far from mid tempo and mildly poppy. The addition of little touches like strings on tracks like 'World Gone By' give a nice layered sound but ultimately after a few tracks like this your attention still begins to wander. Sadly it's the opener 'Do You Ever' which is probably the hardest hitting and most exciting moment on the record with a darker feel and a full more distorted, guitar based sound, however the album peaks right there and never manages to get back to this winning moment. More tunes like this one would have really propelled the record forward and kept you interested; a great blast from penultimate track 'The Eleventh Hour' comes just too late to win you back unfortunately.