Review: Glasvegas – ‘Euphoric /// Heartbreak \\\’

When Glasgow meets Las Vegas it’s like having The Killers over for tea at Mogwai’s rocket space house in some distant galaxy of harmonia. The Doves have flown in. They’re all drinking from vessels of rapture and nibbling cosmic hot rocks as they ascend to the heights of astral waves. They find Bono there, he is puzzled, and the gang direct him accordingly and wrongly- sending him to a galaxy far away.

‘Euphoric /// Heartbreak \\\‘ is the latest album from Glasvegas. After releasing their debut self-entitled album in September 2008, and then a Christmas themed EP in the December of the same year, the band have since found themselves to be nominees for many prestigious awards. They won a total of four times across the tail-end of ‘08 and then further over 2009, walking away with various accolades from the NME, XFM, and the UK Music Video Awards.

From the moment Glasvegas first created waves the band have been surely elevated into a strange new world of strenuous touring and countless opportunities of exposure, allowing the Glaswegian four-piece to showcase their original and most exciting ideas. Now they return to continue along the same flight path – no direction new – just bearing a bigger, more advanced collection which firmly expands on the band that the indie rockers started out to become.

‘Euphoria, Take My Hand‘ has been the first single on release; a blend of quick-march drums, soaring vocals and neat striking riffs. A certified dance number bearing an almost sublime quality; adept and able to transport the listener onto a distant plain of exultancy, firmly uplifted and enlightened.

The same kind of qualities run as a theme on ‘Euphoric Heartbreak’ – elevation being the key principle. ‘Shine Like Stars‘ is possibly the ultimate song of invincibility to feature on the album; the choral line sailing as though a comet, almost leaving the visual stain of a rainbow entering into the cosmos. There’s definitely no masking that thick Glaswegian accent, and for what reason should there be? It seems that too many bands still attempt to conform to a washed-out vocal style, often American, which makes them compatible with several other genre-sharers. But in reality it’s a joy to hear the uniquity of an accent – almost a home grown quality – and here in this track it shines through completely unpolished.

Sadly, unless listening with absolute attention, Glasvegas can easily come off as repetitive. They echo the same formula; more often than not beginning in a quiet minimalistic place before picking up the pace and intensity, and then feeding it into a climatic explosion. ‘Lots Sometimes‘ does its best at reeling the album in from the galactic heights at which we transcend after the debut single rings out, but the track, slightly reminiscent of Pulp, still works up to moments of grandeur and does no favours to break the pattern.

‘Change‘ is the most stripped back number on ‘Euphoric Heartbreak’. It’s completely non-invasive and the piano sets a sense of stillness, accompanied by soft vocals. Eventually the sound of a women talking (in a Scottish accent) is placed over the top of the tranquil backing and suddenly we’ve joined in on a couple’s bond in times of broken intimacy. This is a feature very much evocative of previous works, and the song ‘Stabbed‘ from the first album stands as predecessor to ‘Change’ in both tone and composition.

And so we are left on a very quiet note after a trip through euphoria. The inter-galactic tea party has come to an end and the Doves and Mogwai have gone their separate ways from The Killers, Bono was never spotted again. But what we’ve truly been shown on this journey of cosmic interchange, has been the flight path of a rocket – from its humble beginnings right up to the exhilarating heights. Unfortunately, the pattern has been monotonous and somewhat predictable, feasibly like a drug trip, reaching peaks of sheer ecstasy before dropping into a temporal low again to start the next track.

But if you are to take the album as a whole, perhaps ignoring the second’s gap between songs, audiences are in fact offered a voyage of musical storytelling; intelligent composition included. Play it at 4am through a good speaker system in order to experience ‘Euphoric Heartbreak’ to the full, and let Glasvegas take you on a journey.

(Joanne Ostrowski)