Singles

Guillemots - We're Here

Marcus Warner 27/03/2006

Rating: 4/5

The word 'bittersweet' is an oft-used but rarely explained adjective that is written when reviewing or describing a song or album, primarily because the word has the ability to mean different things to different people. As the Guillemots new single 'We're here' begins to build (complete with a 'motown' horn stab!) into the elegant and frankly beautiful soundscape that their early promise hinted at, you can near taste the bittersweet flavour of such a powerful and emotive statement. The second line in the song of 'The world is our dancefloor' isn't sung like some dodgy Euro-house tune that clogs up our charts like limescale before the application 'toilet duck', but with a rare sense of melody coupled with fragility, a world weary croon that will not give up until the song is sung from the hilltops (which are provided in the video).

The production is very Dave Eringa-esque and the sweeping use of strings only adds to what is a very classy bittersweet pop song recalling moments of Mcalmont and Butler, Mansun and dare I say 'Everything must go-era' Manics. I am not going to try to explain what bittersweet means, but I will offer you the glorious 'We're here' as an audio example of how it could sound and how it should sound. If all pop music sounded like this, you wouldn't need an 'alternative' in the first place, so next time you hear Joss Stone's new single being described as bittersweet, shake your head and play this song once more.