Comments on band history and past singles have been well documented on this site before, as a swift glance at their profile will tell you, so I won't bore you with the "they used to be called Whispering Bob, don't you know" history yet again. Suffice to say, 'eagerly awaited' are two words which spring to mind with 'Don't Bring Me Down'. If you've been to see the band any number of times then you'll already know the 10 songs here off by heart. That, my friends, could be the album's only fatal flaw - they've been gigging solidly with these songs, and when the album's released they'll be gigging with them again. But hey, that's probably just record company politics and very boring to read about, so let's move on…
To remind you/acquaint you: Goldrush are something of a breath of fresh air in a musical climate of teeny pop, metal pish and skatepunk. They're young prettyboys from Oxford with their own record label, recording studio and annual festival. They make timeless, folky pop music with from-the-heart lyrics. They write great tunes and then fuck some of them with distortion and brass sections, rah! Super.
The title track is the anthem, their theme song - so uncomplicated, so straightforward. Who thought that such a well-worn chord sequence could be so effective? To expand on this muso point, the album's production sounds very POP. At times that gives them an edge, makes them sound less predictable than if they'd gone down the Mercury Rev/Mogwai/Delgados route of using David Fridmann (for example), but at times it lets things down a little. Having seen them live I know how dirty and raw some of these songs can sound, and unfortunately the studio recordings lose this a little. There's some satisfying guitar crunching here but at times it's just not enough.
Never mind. It's just a blip.
Another blip is the notable absence of single 'Love Is Here', but that'll make the single a collector's item for older fans. A canny move indeed!
The album's strength comes from the tunes contained within. 'Wide Open Sky' is an under-three-minute-long joy. Easily the most commercial of all tracks here. Goldrush's ability to swing from simple pop songs like 'Wide Open Sky' and 'Same Picture' to the more tender likes of 'Dead' and 'Landscape' is evident all way through. The harmonies between the two brothers are a joy and the fact they can make an album this good whilst still in their early twenties makes you wonder what they'll be like five years from now.
'Don't Bring Me Down' is shaping up to be a classic, something to be discovered and rediscovered years down the line. It won't be the best album they ever do but it's a damn good start.
