I've followed the Leeds based band "Duels" for a number of years now. I am (it's worth admitting) a little biased as I am good friends with a number of members of the group. However, I am known to criticise them and, yes, I'm sure I have sufficiently irritated them in the past with my skepticism regarding some aspects of their music. I went into listening to their debut album with a clean slate, ready to hear what they had done with the songs I already knew, and how they went about creating an 11-track summary of "Duels" as a band. Having watched them grow in stature but not necessarily status over the last few years, I looked forward to watching how the album would make the press and public sit-up and take notice. I am , therefore, pleased to say that album "The Bright Lights and What I Should Have Learned" is truly excellent, with only a few minor personal gripes.
Duels are a five piece indie-type band comprising keyboards, guitar, bass and drums. Musically, it's hard to pin them down and most journos have so far made a terrible job of defining them. Previously I have heard mentioned Bowie, Blur (specifically Albarn), Kaiser Chiefs and so on, as musical peers. I think it has become obvious that there is little value in comparisons; the band are entirely their own with pop, rock and indie sensibilities all rolled into one - a mix that defines the range of songs on this debut album.
The album starts with song "Brothers And Sisters" and is a beautiful and really well executed first track, promising a great deal. Indeed, the book-end songs ("Taxi Song" being the final track) on "The Bright Lights and What I Should Have Learned" are really excellently produced and make you feel like you've listened to an "album", rather than just a collection of songs.
However, it is in execution of the rest of the tracks that a great deal of my disappointment lies. Somehow, it feels weak in parts, not in terms of the instrumentation, the vocal or the lyrics...but if there is anything left after those have been taken into account - then it's that that is the problem. Clearly the band are accomplished musicians and lead singer, Jonathan Foulger, has a wonderfully airy voice. However, there is a sense that there should be
more in there; more oomph, maybe even more 'wall of sound'. Perhaps it is testament to the songs themselves that this is how a great number of songs play-out, that the strength of feeling (which is there in the bucket-load) of the lyrics and in the music is often not matched by the level of noise produced. "Potential Futures", for example, is played as "tub-thumping" (whether intentional or not, it does), but just doesn't sound it! Having listened to the album on a number of different players, through headphones, through an expensive set-up, in a car (hey - this is how people listen to music!), I can confirm that the album scales poorly. On the better setups the album performs much better and the sound of the album comes through more clearly. It is one of my pet hates that great albums should sound great even on home made speakers made of cornflakes packets and foil. "The Bright Lights" (as I'm now calling it) does not.
Perhaps it is the eclecticism and range that is potentially "The Bright Lights" downfall. Take, at random, 3 or 4 songs from the album and whilst you can hear that they come from the same band, you would, I think, be hard pressed on first listening, to believe they came from the same album. The 11 tracks
do gel as an album, I should be clear, but that comes with listening time.
Favourite tracks from the album would be "Things", "Animal" and "Taxi Song" and all for different reasons. As far as individual songs go, Duels stand up there with the best of them, and the filler songs are...not filler songs! You feel genuinely that Duels wanted to put all their best songs on one album.
Duels are an awesome live band, and I would hope that few except the terminally dumb would dispute that. "The Bright Lights and What I Should Have Learned" is a very good album, perhaps only personally disappointing because I can't see this being the hit it damn-well deserves to be.
The Bright Lights and What I Should Have Learned is a dynamic and edifying album, sweeping effortlessly from riotous belters to the soft and meaningful.
See more about duels on their website:
http://www.duelsmusic.com/
