Album of The Week: The Balance — Catfish and the Bottlemen
This week’s album of the week review comes courtesy of Louis MacDonald, and is on Catfish and the Bottlemen’s third studio album. Take a read on what he has to say below about The Balance.
For their third full-length album ‘The Balance’, the Bottlemen turned to Irish producer Jacknife Lee, who has produced for countless names including The Killers, Taylor Swift and U2. The result is a full sounding set of indie anthems. The production is slick and emphasises the bass work of Benji Blakeway and Johnny Bond’s lead guitar playing arguably better than ever. Otherwise, there are no new tricks from the band.
Although, they have always claimed to deliberately remain within their same ‘one wonders’ sound and plan to for however long they can continue to do so before their style wears thin. The artwork for this album is also in the same style as the previous two albums and as always we are presented with 11 songs with one-word titles.
I would argue that this album is certainly stronger than its predecessor in terms of flow between verses and choruses — both musically and lyrically. With this record, I feel the songs are once again, like The Balcony, written in one go and maintain the same lyrical thread whereas The Ride had more of a disconnection that tended to affect the flow of songs such as ‘Emily’ or ‘Soundcheck’. Therefore The Balance follows and is a strong album that seals the place of The Bottlemen at the top of the current mainstream indie game. My top five tracks from the album are:
Fluctuate
The second tune of the album has aggression to it that has been rarely touched upon by catfish previously. The bridge and guitar solo are real highlights of the song especially once the final chorus come back in over the top before the tune ends abruptly midline. This is a well-placed song that certainly sets a standard for the rest of the album.
Sidetrack
This is a song that has verses and a pre-chorus that could’ve easily been at home on The Ride but once the chorus kicks in it is evident that this is Catfish on a new level. The second verse grooves nicely and showcases some of the best drumming on the album from Bob Hall. Its a ripper of a tune and is an outlier in terms of other Catfish songs as it has a longer, slower outro. This provides a nice contrast to the pace of the chorus and serves the album well as it allows for differentiation between this song and the next, ‘Encore’, which is another big anthem.
Encore
Encore is a classic Bottlemen tune in many senses. Lyrically McCann utilises his trademark conversational approach effectively. The chorus is huge and the bridge is perhaps reminiscent of ‘Fallout’ or ‘Business’. A top one for singing along to that Catfish crowds will love belting out.
Intermission
The ‘Hourglass’ or ‘Glasgow’ of this third record. Instead of reaching for the acoustic guitar, Catfish have instead created this slower and arguably darker number through heavy sonics from Jacknife Lee. A delay-effected guitar picks a staccato lead throughout alongside McCann’s quietly sung recount of memories of a time spent with a certain someone who’s playing on his mind. This is a standout moment on the album as it juxtaposes the anthem laden experience that has been had up until this point and creates an ambience of a much different sense.
Overlap
The closing track on a catfish album will always have a lot to live up to having been preceded by ‘Tyrants’ and ‘Outside’, some of the bands biggest tunes. Overlap definitely does not disappoint. A slow start leads to a menacing build up before the listener is hit with a belter of a chorus. The highlight of this song is the catchy lead guitar lick that follows each chorus that you can already imagine crowds chanting along to once this song gets unleashed live.
Overall the album may not reach the same standard as past albums, but Catfish and the Bottlemen have provided some quality music that will respond well live.
Did you enjoy this article? Be sure to let us know! Follow us, leave a comment, share, or use the ‘applause’ function here on Medium.
If you’d like to cast a vote in the Album of the Week poll, don’t forget to follow our Twitter. We’ll also keep you posted on all our latest reviews, interviews, and radio shows.
