Albums

Spring Offensive - Spring Offensive

Craig Broad 17/09/2009

Rating: 4.5/5

There seems to be some criminal musical offense occurring where all of the best bands are being completely and painfully overlooked in favour of dull, run of the mill radio friendly acts and Spring Offensive are one of those bands being ignored.

Hailing from Oxford, you can see obvious links to the likes of Youthmovies, more in outward invention than anything. It is indie but not completely MTV2 friendly, it is accessible but not quite mainstream enough to get into a supermarket chart, without a doubt it is pure genius and the three tracks on this EP give you enough to enjoy and still whet your appetite for a full album.

It starts off with 'A Let Down' with its quirky, funky guitar melody underpinned brilliantly by a solid bass line and some impressive vocal interplay, pop structures this may be but it is so brilliant in its creation that you'll never actually realise how simple a structure this song actually has. Add to this one of the most beautiful lyrics I have heard in a long time "I think I dreamt you up on a tired afternoon" and you know that you are on for a winner.

'Between One And One-Nine-Four' is very much the same but darker, brooding into your skull. It's 'The Cable Routine' where Spring Offensive really win you over though, a quiet emotional cry that subtly takes hold of your gut and your heart strings and plays havoc with them until you don't know whether to dance or cry. Once again, the invention overshadows all and what is fundamentally a simple song, sounds more complicated than it actually is which in turn, makes you concentrate more. It's in this concentration that you notice the subtleties, the guitar steadily building as the vocals haunt you with their harmonies and you can't help but be drawn in by the sheer honesty of 'The Cable Routine' and in fact Spring Offensive in general.

It is rare that a band comes with this much promise within a debut EP and it would be criminal for anyone to ignore this.

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