The fifth of November…
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[4.18]
Dan MacRae: Three and a half minutes of wet cardboard. Geez, even the band’s name is shapeless mush.
[2]
Megan Harrington: I am delighted that this is tuneful, serviceable modern rock because I can’t take my eyes off of Piano Jesus. The scorching hot, thirst inducing beauty of lead singer Rory and the unremarkable plainness of his bandmates is the hallmark of a group cobbled together from parts by a crafty A&R exec (like Maroon 5 or Bastille, similar pre-fabs). Bands like these thrive on their mutability and professionalism. There is no spark to “Remember” but it’s deeply pleasant, and let’s not forget Rory’s face.
[8]
W.B. Swygart: OneRepublic with more pronounced cryface? Why yes, this is exactly what I ordered, and I thank you for the prompt delivery!
[1]
Katherine St Asaph: Like a biohazard, this must be stopped — we must stop it — before its Maroon 5/OneRepublic/hell, even Smash Mouth minor chordozoa become pandemically viral. Take these points and go on without me.
[6]
Patrick St. Michel: I’m constantly checking myself to make sure I’m not just dismissing new music because it is out of step with what’s “cool” to like. Sunset Sons set off all the alarm bells — bearded dudes who look like Kings Of Leon and also sorta sound like them playing rock. But the rub is…”Remember” actually is just boring as heck, thinking drama can be created just by turning the volume up.
[2]
Edward Okulicz: I have a gigantic box of CDs at my parents’ place, and when I went home for Christmas a few weeks ago, I looked through it. Judging by the worryingly high number of compilations I own with names including words like “the best” and “indie” and “ever,” there is an alarmingly high chance that if this had come out between 1996 and 2003 I would have bought it on CD single. The worst thing I can say about it is that it’s tunefully annoying.
[6]
Crystal Leww: I swear that the only words in this song are “I win, you lose, grumblemumblegrumble” repeated with emphasis and gusto in different places. At least Migos had personality.
[4]
Jonathan Bradley: Reverb piano and some soulful texture to Rory Williams’s voice are misdirection: “Remember” is pub rock, as flavorless as the domestic swill served cut-rate at happy hour and as stodgy as the Monday night steak special. For all their faults, the Powderfinger dudes seemed like the occasional thought might have flickered between their brain cells. By the sounds of this track, Sunset Sons are of simpler stock: beneath their saltwater-soaked locks sit skulls full of sand.
[3]
Scott Mildenhall: Rock is back! Again. And politer than ever. Even the surprise late surges are far from aggressive, rising piano giving visions of the swinging hair of Tom Odell as he gets overwrought about something. Admittedly less polite are the lyrics, veiled whining of a non-appealing nature. In the three minutes following the haphazard jump from “it was good!” to “you were bad!”, there doesn’t seem any acknowledgement of the irony of claims that “I win, you lose” possess, in light of said whining. Tom Odell banging at a piano can be quite enjoyable, however.
[6]
Brad Shoup: The chorus has a certain groove, with a sticky guitar figure rubbing against a shiver in the word “for”. It’s something out of the restless ’70s beardo-rock of my dreams. I can imagine Gordon Lightfoot or Gerry Rafferty delivering these lines with a crushing absence. But the singing Son grips tightly onto his phrases, tensing up before he looses a half-bellow. Outside of that refrain, the track’s colorless: the dance piano promptly disappears into the mix, and everyone’s content to hash out a disco-rock stasis.
[5]
Alfred Soto: The usual nonsense: tough riff, wimp vocal. They win, we lose.
[3]