‘Streets In The Sky‘, The Enemy’s third album, has arrived.
You remember The Enemy, don’t you? Like The Fratellis, The View and countless other bands to achieve public attention in the last seven years. This lot emerged, fiercely intent and carried along on a wave of positive sentiment from certain quarters of the music press, only to largely disappear under the weight of big expectations when their second album dropped. ‘Streets In The Sky’ has been hailed as a return to form, but aside from this record having a great title (like debut, ‘We’ll Live And Die In These Towns‘), does it share any other similarities with the band’s #1-selling debut?
One thing to note; it certainly raises itself above the banausic ‘Music For The People‘. The Enemy have recaptured the briskness and energy of their early songs, and ‘Streets For The Sky’ barely lets up throughout 12 tracks of heart-on-sleeve, power-chorded disquiet. Opener ‘Gimme The Song‘ is a torrent of guitars and aggressive drums and despite some daft lyrics (which is par for the course with Tom Clarke), the tone is well-set – a band enjoying making a racket again.
‘Bigger Cages (Longer Chains)‘ is also spurred on by a stadium-sized riff and strong chorus, with Clarke’s line “Now is the time for change” signifying the trio’s positive shift in focus and direction. One of the finest tracks on the album, ‘Bigger Cages…’ is quite simply fast, full-sounding and angry; one supposes it will translate extremely well to a live setting.
Lead single ‘Saturday‘, meanwhile, is another perfect example of daft lyrics mashing up with a killer riff and undeniably catchy chorus (“Frosty milkman in the morning, desperate breakfast in a boring town”). Though the sentiment complements the music (small town, the need for escape; you know, the plot of Cemetery Junction and a central theme of The Enemy’s work since they first achieved attention), the lyrics themselves are a bit corny and sub-Sillitoe. Then again, this is still far and away the most irresistible song on the record. Anyone should get what they’re driving at with the line, “There’s a train tonight, We’ll leave when you want to leave”, and it’s destined to become a football anthem in much the manner ‘Chelsea Dagger‘ did for a band already mentioned in this review.
It’s not just the mentality that’s changed; The Enemy have commissioned the services of The Bronx’s Joby Ford to produce, and his punk aesthetics infuse tracks such as ‘1-2-3-4‘, with its scream-along chorus, Clarke sounding particularly spunky, and ‘Like A Dancer‘, both of which has The Enemy sounding less like Oasis’ scrappy little bros and more like Jimmy Eat World’s bratty classmates – in short, like young American upstarts rather than eager English underdogs. Which is not necessarily a bad thing – ‘Like A Dancer’ in particular is an excellent, fun-loving little pop-rock song.
Elsewhere, a couple of the tracks lag a bit in comparison (as with, you could say, almost every record). ‘Come Into My World‘ is predictable and relies too much on a forgettable chorus, while ‘This Is Real‘ drowns under a deluge of insipid lyrics (“our backs against the wall, you and me against it all, I’ll always lie awake, until my backbone breaks”). ‘2 Kids‘ also suffers from the same syndrome, though is more interesting musically and kind of sweet in its own way; a narrative about two youngsters growing up in squalid conditions, though relishing the good memories once they grow up. As ever, Liam Watts’ drumming is dynamic and far less easy to pick holes in that some of the songwriting.
The second half of the album does well to keep up the energy; the pop-punk ‘Turn It On‘ is a surefire sing-along and ‘It’s A Race‘, replete as it is with call-and-response one liners (“I wanna live before I die!” “Give me some fire for my soul!” “I’m gonna fight before I die!” “I don’t wanna live an empty life!”), as well as some lively guitar solos, is similarly successful.
‘Get Up And Dance‘, while not exactly disco, is an interesting, dreamy musical experiment away from the lad rock which is showcased on the rest of the album. It also benefits from an excellent chorus (“You can’t live on memories when memories fade”) and a churning little Killers-esque riff. Album closer ‘Make A Man‘, for its part, closes the show on a respectable note, despite not being one of the record’s highlights.
A return to form? Certainly. ‘Streets In The Sky’ is on a par with ‘We’ll Live And Die In These Towns’ and, despite some shortcomings, is a commendable rock record that should restore The Enemy’s swagger.
