Album Review: Time by First Day Lions

At the album launch party for Time, First Day Lions frontman Adam Cunningham revealed that the band locked themselves away to write a record with a story and continuity, just like Pink Floyd’s The Wall. While very few albums can match that genius-level masterpiece, First Day Lions have indeed achieved their goal. While there are occasional minor missteps, Time is a concept album, with a proper cinematic feel to it, that really works.

The album makes no secret whatsoever of the band’s ambition that it should resemble a theatrical work, as it literally opens and closes with ‘Curtains Open’ and ‘Curtains Close’, respectively. The two tracks use the same melody and music box theme, thus framing the story that unfolds in between.

The narrative goes as follows: Man falls in love with a girl (‘Light’), gets dumped (‘Mary Lou’), is heartbroken (‘Deep’), finds new hope (‘I Am Ready’), falls for her again (‘Perfume & Cider’), but has to leave her because he must save the world (‘Superhero’).

Nope, I didn’t expect the Marvel movie plot-twist either, but it makes for a very interesting musical – as well as lyrical – progression. While the album starts out on an uplifting note with your traditional catchy guitar riffs and melodies, ‘Dangerzone’ sends the band into space, introducing otherworldly synth sounds to their style. ‘Superhero’ then combines these sounds with a mid-tempo ‘80s hair-band number – and somehow it works.

Before it gets too freaky, however, First Day Lions return to classic form on ‘Jenny’, a funky blues track that allows all of the musicians to prove their musical worth: it’s filled to the brim with glorious solos and ad-libs.

First Day Lions make no attempt to disguise their influences, putting them on full display on their debut record – tributes to Dire Straits, The Beatles and Pink Floyd can be heard throughout. Nevertheless, they’ve managed to fuse these different styles and put their own unique spin on them. Time is highly entertaining from start to finish – just like a Marvel movie.