The runaway success of Coldplay, Snow Patrol, Keane and others was always bound to inspire leagues of copyists. And here’s yet another. The opening track ‘Superhuman Touch’ isn’t the worst offender by a long shot. A Blur-like indie rocker with an ‘80s synth pattern, it’s not bad at all and proves Athlete can be creative and innovative. Sadly, things soon go downhill: ‘The Getaway’ is all reverb guitar, soaring vocals, plodding rhythm and emotion-by-numbers sentiments. Plus, frontman Joel Pott has every vocal mannerism of the genre perfected. “You’ll be the first to welcome me, when I climb into eternity”, he sings on ‘Black Swan Song’, the title-track of sorts, apparently a tribute to his late grandfather. (Expect future X-Factor hopefuls to give this a mangling).
The heart-tugging earnestness of ‘Don’t Hold Your Breath’ sounds like a composite of every soporific ballad you’ve ever heard, while the similarly bland ‘Light The Way’ with its “hopeful” message is a certain future single (“let your senses be ignited by streams of neon singing the dark”).‘Love Come Rescue’, an acoustic ballad, at least provides some relief but not enough to rescue this from terminal dullness.