Boots Met My Face

The nostalgic songs of Admiral Fallow feature a level of detail that suggests they’ve been culled from somebody’s very real life. That’s usually a very good thing, but there’s a sense that those very real experiences have been gilded with over-emotive exclamation marks and smothered in an unearned sense of significance. Picked guitars are bolstered by spacious, almost military drums, punctuating electric guitars and masses of rich string and woodwind arrangements. All the while singer Louis Abbot’s voice sounds like it’s on the verge of an emotional breakthrough. Sounds interesting? It should do, but collectively it all threatens to crumble under its own weighty earnestness. It’s basically telling me how to feel, while the best music sucker-punches you with emotion. Pulling the ‘emote’ fader back from ten to six or seven would serve them very well on the next record.