Out of nothing --- Embrace --- 2004 (Independente)
I bought this album on the strength of the one song I had heard from them, which is in fact the opener to this, Embrace's fourth album: I was
that impressed by the song! Apparently, a lot of other people were too, as the album shot right to number one in the UK, so chances were there was going to be some damn fine music here. If anything even approached the quality of the one song I had heard up to then, this would not be money wasted. But before we get into that, who the hell are these guys?
Embrace are an English rock band who have been around since 1990, though they only achieved success --- and huge success: a number one album with their debut! --- eight years later. They were literally formed at the bottom of a garden by two brothers, Danny and Richard McNamara. Adding a bass player and a drummer, they decided to use the name Embrace for their band, despite there already being a band of that name, based in the USA. Securing permission from that band to also use the name, Embrace released their first album, “The good will out” in 1998 and it went directly to number one, a massive feat for an as-yet-unknown band at that time.
As is often the case though, they were initially unable to repeat this feat, and though their next two albums both hit the top ten, neither made it to the very top and they were dropped by their label. Signed to a new label they released their fourth album, “Out of nothing”, which raced right up to the top spot, emulating the success of “The good will out”, almost six years later.
As I mentioned, “Ashes” is the opener, and made such an impression on me when I heard it on the TV that I rushed out to buy the album. It's a perfect combination of pop and rock, with busy guitars, sparkling keys and a great vocal line from Danny McNamara, with a wonderful hook and great melody. It's got just the right mix of pathos and determination in the lyric, and I always regard it as a real “cheer up” song. Guitarist Richard McNamara certainly knows his way around a fretboard, and you can see why this album was so well-received. My only concern with the song is its sudden piano lead-out, which I think jars just a little.
“Gravity” is co-written by Chris Martin, with whom the guys had become friendly when supporting Coldplay, and as a result it is very Coldplay in its sound. A ballad, it's a lovely song with a nice line in piano from Mickey Dale and an impassioned vocal, some great guitar work from Richard, and it was in fact their comeback single after two successful but not chart-busting albums and a lack of interest from Hut, their previous label. “Someday” has an almost acoustic opening, with some squealing guitar, a laconic vocal and a bare piano line, then it gets going with heavy drumming from Mike Heaton and some fairly Big Country-style sharp guitar from Richard. The song has a real anthemic quality in its chorus, with some great backing vocals. There's a quite unexpected burst of guitar right at the end, which certainly shows that Richard can rock out with the best of them.
More restrained then is “Looking as you are”, which kind of reminds me of a more animated Travis, some very passionate guitar and some solid piano , and “Wish 'em all away” is a hard ballad, with a lot of power and honesty in its execution, while “Keeping” is also quite balladic in its structure, given added power by the inclusion of the London Session Orchestra, and there seems not to have been a fast uptempo song since “Ashes”, which is not a criticism, just an observation. No bad tracks so far. Atmospheric opening thanks to Dale's keyboards to “Spell it out”, then Richard's guitar chimes out and Mike's drums take the song up a notch, and it becomes a mid-paced rocker, with some very distinctive guitar riffs throughout, more lovely orchestral arrangements lifting it to new heights, then a beautiful piano intro from Mickey Dale takes us into “A glorious day”, a love anthem if ever there was one, powerful backing vocals with bright piano mostly leading the melody.
Some guitar histrionics over a piano intro opens “Near life”, with a dour, almost Chris Martinesque vocal from Danny, his brother's wild guitar making this the closest thing to hard rock on the album, but I'm not a fan of this style of singing, almost what I'd call slurred, in a way, or what comes across as uninterested, even though I know Danny is certainly full of passion for all his music. The album then ends on the title track, more lovely piano from Mickey Dale in a closing ballad that's certainly worthy of the quality on this album. Halfway through though it really jumps into life, and the guitar, not so much solo, as passage, that ends it has to really be heard for it to be appreciated how good a guitarist Richard McNamara is.
It's easy to see why Coldplay wanted them as support on their tour, as Embrace's sound is very similar to Chris Martin's band. So if you hate Coldplay are you going to hate these guys? I don't know; it's not a problem I have as I like Coldplay, but until reading about Embrace on Wiki I was unaware of the connection between the two, and maybe that knowledge has coloured my perception of their sound. All I know is this is a band who definitely deserve to be given a chance. Listen to the album and make up your own mind. I personally don't love it, but I do like it a lot, and it gets regular airplay on my media player of choice.
TRACKLISTING
1. Ashes
2. Gravity
3. Someday
4. Looking as you are
5. Wish 'em all away
6. Keeping
7. Spell it out
8. A glorious day
9. Near life
10. Out of nothing