Holding on

Embrace. You probably think you’ve got them sussed. Slightly earnest providers of epic, anthemic, hands in the air indie rock. Well, take a little time to listen to their third album, If You’ve Never Been and the chances are that you’ll reassess that opinion. Where before there was chest swelling bombast, this time out they’ve concentrated on a more subtle, refined sound. It may not quite be what people are expecting, as singer Danny McNamara realises. He asks hotpress what we think of the album. We tell him we love it, but that it does require a few listens to get a handle on.

“Yeah, that’s what everybody’s been saying. I suppose that’s not a bad thing, but if it was me I listen to an album once and if I don’t like it I never play it again. Then again, my favourite album is Automatic For The People and that takes a few listens.” The REM comparison is more than valid, since If You’ve Never Been is a record that also reveals a new facet with each listen.

Danny’s certainly a happy man. “Making a good album is always really hard, there’s a lot of hair pulling and nail biting, throwing Coke cans around, things like that. But in a sense we were more confident and, I wouldn’t say more comfortable, but more up for it than before. If anything it was easier than the last two albums, but part of that was because we had so many songs to choose from – we’re on a real roll at the moment, we just seem to be writing and writing.”

One of the aims he’s talked about recently has been to make an album of ‘widescreen’ music. Have the band achieved that? “To a certain extent, yeah. I think that songs like ‘Over’, ‘Satellites’ and ‘ Happiness Will Get You In The End’ have got a width to them that we haven’t really conquered before. We’ve kinda always had the epic, quite grandiose songs but these have got quite a lot of space to them, in a sense they’re quite filmic. If you listen to them on your headphones they surround you a lot more, they’re more atmospheric.”

“There are rousing anthems on there,” he replies to the observation that the record is something of a change of direction, “but we wanted to write an album that was really beautiful and didn’t pander in any way. Stick your headphones on and you can get taken to a whole other world. The main brief for each song was to take you somewhere important, transport you away from how you’re feeling at that time and if it does that it’s good enough.”

That Embrace have managed to maintain a passion for their cause is all the more commendable given the lashing they’ve had at the hands of certain parts of the press, seemingly uncomfortable with an indie band who wanted to do something as unfashionable as move people. Danny is unperturbed. “All my favourite bands, even from the ’80s, bands like REM, The Smiths, Echo & The Bunnymen, they all had big ideas and weren’t afraid to stick their neck out. That’s what we always did and will do. There will always be people who will mock you for trying but that’s up to them. All that cynicism just bounces off me.”

Does he feel for the new wave of bands receiving an equal roasting? “The Strokes at the moment are kind of the cool band and I remember when that was us. I hope they’re enjoying it because it is a really good feeling but it doesn’t last. When all that’s gone and it’s just back to the music and what you’re really about, that’s when you get tested. I feel happier now than when we were the coolest thing in the world because it’s much more real now. People like us, not because it’s cool, but because they get something from the music. It makes me feel worthwhile as a human being, that people get so much from what we do. I know why I’m on this planet, whereas before with all the hype that surrounded the band, all the front covers and next big thing stuff; it never really felt real.”