Singles

Operahouse - Genius Child

Simon Jay Catling 31/03/2009

Rating: 3/5

Well hey, hey! First Operahouse were Born A Boy and now they've grown up to become a Genius Child! Hopefully by the time of their third single they'll be Revered Old Men… oh nuts, it's not on their album track listing. To be fair to the Sun-loved five piece (it's true, check their Myspace) though they know their way round a melody just about well enough to keep a safe distance from the landfill of broken down bands that exists just down from Camden; in fact parts of Genius Child sound almost like those rare moments when sleepy folk poppers Turin Brakes woke up long enough to rock out a bit before drifting off back into a lazy slumber.

Burbling synths back acoustic guitars in the verses hinting at something big, before the expected something big happens in the form of a rather formulaic but nonetheless catchy hook led chorus that if anything swings its pendulum across from our good Capital towards sun-filled Californian college rock- only with a hint more angst. Genius Child's main failing is in the obvious push for radio airplay heard in the production; a potentially atmospheric building middle eight and bridge is dampened somewhat by clean-cut, unjumbled production whereas perhaps a rawer edge might've sufficed. Similarly the percussion never quite makes its presence felt; nevertheless though Genius Child offers another step forward for a band who are starting to seem an increasingly more promising proposition than they might have at first appeared.