Welsh superstars return with their most radio-friendly disc to date"Into Oblivion (Reunion)", the first single and album opener, starts things off very much as they mean to go on: massive choruses, great instrumentation, hooks galore and tight playing and writing.
It must be said that I was originally sceptical about their new, more commercial direction - apart from "Into Oblivion", I had heard a couple of tracks on HMV's radio station (I spend a lot of time in there), and thought that the songs sounded just alright, rather than great. But, having listened to this album in its entirety, it certainly has a completely different impact as a single, cohesive body of work.
To put it simply, this is a very good album. True, it doesn't have the punky urgency or anger as their debut (2003's Casually Dressed & Deep In Conversation - one of my favourite albums ever), the band members have clearly grown as musicians, and the writing on Tales Don't Tell Themselves is more daring and they appear to have pushed the envelope more than they ever seemed brave enough to do. It's an effort that has certainly paid off.
Unfortunately, there is only so much that can be written about the album, other than it's really very well written and a very satisfying listening experience. Summery without being sickly, catchy as it needs to be, this is an album that will work very well with the top down, and cruising along in sunny California. Which just makes it so very weird that these guys are from Wales...
Other tracks that stand out are "The Great Wide Open", "The Diary" (nice additional female vocals), "Out Of Reach" (a heavier, faster track) to name but three.
A refreshing breath of fresh air from a band distancing themselves from the Emo crowd. Recommended.
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