I think for me it's two things: lyrics and emotions. I like to feel/hear/know that a band or singer spent some time working out what the song was about rather than just throw words or phrases together. This is why the likes of Springsteen's Born to Run album floors me: in a review of it I noted that the album opens with optimism and a desire to be free, two people (well, we assume two: it's never confirmed Mary went with him) hungering to see the big city and leave smalltown America behind ("Thunder Road"), but it ends with one guy on his own, disillusioned, broken, trapped and no doubt wishing he had stayed where he was ("Jungleland"). Now that's writing!
I can listen to music others would find banal if it evokes an emotion in me. Everyone here hates Bon Jovi, but some of their music (alone, regardless of lyrics) has really moved me. Same with Journey, Asia, insert hated band here. But when the two come together - deep, thoughtful, passionate lyrics and powerful, emotional music - that's when it hits the sweet spot and I know I'm going to love it.
The music in JTC is, to be fair, nothing special - eighties synths, drum patterns, a lot of choral stuff (woo-ooh-ooh!) etc. But when you get a song like "One of the Broken", with its throaty, echoey guitar, or "The Wedding March", with its almost twenties/jazz style, it does demonstrate that Prefab are happy to step outside the comfort zone usually inhabited by most pop/rock bands. I couldn't really see, for instance, Deacon Blue doing some of the material Prefab do here on this album, though I love them too.
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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018
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