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Tracklisting
1. Number One Thing
2. The Worst is Over
3. From My Reach
4. Fear To Lose
The latest offering in the wave of British post-punk bands, Attention Thieves has some pretty big footsteps to walk in. Their self-titled E.P. – due on December 4th – gives a four-song taste of how the band from Reading, England, plans on following their piers.
The plan – unfortunately – doesn’t call for blazing any new trails, and that is what is really needed anymore to set a band apart. It’s not that Attention Thieves are bad musicians or songwriters by any means, it is just that they sound like so many punk/emo bands out there, with nothing really unique to distinguish them and make the music stick in the listener’s memory.
The opening track, ‘Number One Thing’ is the E.P.’s most hook-filled song, and a definite bid for radio-play. It features the strongest and most compelling vocal work from the band, but like the other tracks, it’s a good enough song, but there’s really nothing memorable about it.
‘The Worst is Over’ and ‘From my Reach’ are both taken from the same mold: catchy guitar melodies with sing-a-long choruses. They could almost have been blended into one longer song without any real difference being noticed. That probably would have been a good idea – that or just picking one track – and using the time to explore other musical scenes, but the audience that the record is aimed for – teenagers and punk-fans – probably don’t want too much variation. Or so the Thieves seem to think.
The closing track, ‘Fear to Lose,’ is the best of the lot. It’s the most adventurous both musically and vocally, and shows that when the band decides to switch things up, they can be quite successful. This is the road that they need to explore if they want to maintain any staying power.
It isn’t a bad debut, though it should really be more of a dangling of toes in the water; help get a sense of what works, what stays, and what matters. Attention Thieves don’t live up to their name yet, but there’s still time.
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