Drawn From Memory

Hyped to the point of caricature, Embrace's debut album was always going to be a let-down, even though it shifted a respectable half-million copies. Their follow-up, Drawn From Memory, shows no signs of wear and tear and finds the McNamara brothers and friends willing to deviate somewhat from bog-standard stadium rock in a hard place.

'New Adam New Eve' shows shades of eastern rhythm and rhyme over a fuzzy slice of post psychedelic pub rock, yet it's a damn fine tune. This is what Kula Shaker could have sounded like if they were any good. The chirpy, brassed-up 'You're Not Alone' is a nice touch, while recent single 'Hooligan' is very catchy, in a drunken singalong kind of way.

Not quite as good is 'Save Me' whose solid shuffle huffs and puffs into a stolid waddle, while the chorus tries a little too hard to be memorable. 'Yeah You' rages, against which machine I'm not sure, although it's chorus of "We aren't going to take any shit any more" could become this year's mantra for angsty adolescents. Much better is the title track, a big and bittersweet piano ballad, or the delicate 'Liars Tears', which shines despite Danny's slightly dodgy falsetto.

Embrace trace a line from The Verve to Stereophonics, but the songs are no less enjoyable for it. In fact, Drawn From Memory could turn the band into this year's hip young things, and I for one wouldn't begrudge them it.

It's all too easy to pick holes in their brand of stadium-friendly guitar rock, and sure, the lyrics aren't exactly Joycean, but Embrace have a certain naggingly familiar, gap-toothed charm.