Graham Clark, Music Correspondent
Albums: Embrace - Avalanche
Stop; Road To Nowhere; Get Out Of My Own Way; Coming Home; Emily; Up In Your Feelings; Pure O; Deny; Funny; The Power
(Cooking Vinyl)
Things have not changed much in terms of songs with big choruses backed by a stellar sound that always strikes a punch.
The first two tracks on the album recall a strong influence from U2, especially on Road To Nowhere, where a joyful ambiance abounds on a song that feels like it was composed for their live concerts on a track that sounds designed for the audience to sing back the vocal hook of the song.
After all this exuberance the band slows things down with Get Out Of My Own Way, a Coldplay-like number; the ballad could be the cousin to their 2004 comeback number Gravity, which, incidentally, was written for Embrace by Chris Martin from Coldplay.
Coming Home, another ballad, builds into a crescendo, like most Embrace songs do, though this time the gospel-type track is not about the band coming home to Yorkshire but more about the loss of a loved one. As lead singer Danny McNamara emotionally sings that if he had “known then what I think I know now, I’d have picked you up and never put you down", you can feel the passion in his voice.
Pure O details mental health and the struggles we all face, in particular Danny, who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder coming out of his late teens. The track might be set against an energised musical backdrop, though the subject matter is one that is more pertinent in today’s society.
Overall the new album sees Embrace delivering a big, bold and at times boisterous set of songs that is still emotional, open and ultimately celebratory.