Having strongly impressed with their previous EP Stay Awake, UK indie band Candidate23 has just unleashed their new offering to again show how exciting a band they are whilst bringing a vibrant evolution in their already thrilling creativity. As with their other releases the quintet from the North West of the country have sculpted a sound of undefined familiarity but one which employs it in an encounter which leaves the passions gasping and imagination fiery through open originality and carefully honed craft.
Formed in 2010, the Liverpool based Candidate23 have only made good impressions, their allure and temptation growing more potent with each release and live performance which has seen the band alongside the likes of Funeral for a Friend, Young Guns and The King Blues. There breakthrough to the widest national awareness is overdue and deserved but still biding its time, teasing us and them but with Recurring Dreams that lock just might and should have the right key finally. With references to the likes of The Wombats and Foals upon them, to which we would add Placebo, Mind Museum, and in some ways Doves, and sewn within their own distinct sound anticipation of a big year for the band from this EP alone is unavoidable.
The title track is a brief brewing ambient beckoning to introduce the release and draw one into the following mighty temptress of a song in Float Away. The track is a sparkling explosion of melodic colour and winding expressive atmospheres veined by rolling rhythms which cage the ear for the vocals of Will Hayes to gentle stroke forth the lyrical heart of the song. The singer instantly impresses, as he has on previous releases, his words and delivery seductively dancing across the vibrant mingling of tantalising enterprise from guitarists Alex McIntyre and Andy Perrin and those still energetic rhythms of drummer Jono Tringham side by side with the rumbling basslines of Ryan Dennett. The emotive lure of the song is never far away or lost in the energy and steps forward most potently for the closing breath of the track as it passes over to next up Until It’s Cold.
From a gentle wash of emotional keys and the soaring tones of Hayes the song rises to its feet with again the beats of Tringham framing the warmth with rich firm persuasion which invites limbs into the affair as much as the emotions. Though the song does not explode with the same intensity as its predecessor it packs a colourful punch in its superbly crafted melodies and equally compelling harmonies to leave extra hunger in the keen appetite already encouraged by the EP.
I’ve Been Here Before is a slow burning delight, a song which took time to make its full declaration before the senses but emerged as one of the most powerful and lingering gems on Recurring Dreams. A smouldering lullaby for the heart with a rising intensity to its breath and enveloping heat, the track offers familiarity in a brand new guise which covers the senses like an old friend which will never lack a welcome but equally intrigues with an undiscovered emotional depth. As with the whole EP, there is nothing not to love about the song as the band show they are as adept and imaginative in slowly crooning the passions as they are igniting them with an infectious anthemic fuse.
The final pair of songs confirms an already done deal between release and ardour, the outstanding I Want You a stirring almost riotous slice of aural contagion, the virulent call of the chorus the perfect climax to the magnetic verse and the call of vocals and sound which rage with invention and lush beauty. The closing First Steps matches what came before with elegant sonic caresses within its enthralling fascination of energy and rhythmic keenness. Though arguably not the most dynamically capturing song on the release it makes a final declaration of just how impressive and thoroughly pleasing Recurring Dreams is.
Available as a free download by a band generous in sound and invention, their new EP has all the weaponry and class to be the trigger for national domination before taking on the world. Candidate23 has provided the mighty tools for all to enjoy and spread the word.
http://candidate23.bandcamp.com/
9/10
RingMaster 07/05/2013
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
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rhythms and the moody bass sound. It is an easy infectious stroll, the vocals an expressive lure with at times wonderfully rusty tones whilst the accompanying harmonies are as lush and appealing as the warm voice of the guitar. It is the rolling rhythmic thrusts within which excite the most though, their rumbling presence lifting a strong song into a recruitment of greater temptation.
prowls amidst their music and none more so than in opener Listen Hear Glide Dear. The track is a caustic wash of sonic unrest and folk invitation coated in an unsettling distrustful ambience which intrudes and permeates every atom of the senses to disrupt their ease and open the doors to provocation. Dirge like in its gait and abrasive in its embrace, the track leaves the emotions ringing from its jangly rub allowing the following Currents to slip in to its place with ease and bewitching temptation. From its restrained start big bulging rhythms and a lovely throaty bassline saunters across the ear whilst the fiery touch of the guitar ensures that there is still a sinister element at play. The delicious vocals of Caroline Lufkin (Temporary Residence) lay a siren like hand upon the passions to temper and equally feed the now agitated formidable rhythmic dance which almost bruises the listener within the rising and coarse sonic embrace permeating the air. It is a tremendous opening to the album, the two tracks in their distinct individuality uniting for a startling and inciting introduction to the release.
provocative blaze of entrapment which captures the imagination just as the thumping drum beats resonate through ear and bone. Within a breath of the time of the rhythms making their stance, fiery guitar riffs rampage and strong inviting vocals add their lures. From an initial funk/latin beckoning the track brews up into a storm of punk infused noise rock with numerous teases from varied sources to further whet the appetite. Richly infectious with the perfect depth of abrasion and melodic seduction as well as the continuing to tempt brass hooks the song makes the strongest persuasion with craft and devilment.
driven sound with a thumping heart and expressive breath vocally and musically. Guitars and bass stroke the ear initially whilst beats tumble across their gait, the rhythms increasing in force and frequency as Boardman begins the songs narrative with his impressive tones and delivery. There is an unmistakable Foo Fighters infectiousness and rampancy to the song coring the melodic teasing of keys and guitars and by its end the fiery encounter leaves one breathless and deeply satisfied.
