An album that begins with a track called ‘Death’ might not sound like the most cheery of listening — except that the track in question is no maudlin dirge, but an exhilarating rush of a song. When the title track goes, ‘Let’s grow old together, and die at the same time,’ it may sound cartoonish. And yet… and yet, there’s something about these guys.
White Lies are a trio from London who have been hailed as one of the current Next Big Things by the British music press. The ten tracks on their album are built of broadly similar components: big, expansive music; Harry McVeigh’s soaring vocals — and the lyrics? Well, the line ‘Everything has got to be love or death’ from the first song sums up the main concerns. And I like the results a lot.
Sure, White Lies are another guitar band with something of an ’80s electro influence. Granted, there isn’t as much variety of style and tone in To Lose My Life as one would ideally like to see. Okay, maybe nothing else on the album is quite as instantly memorable as ‘Death’ (though a couple of tracks come close). But what is on the album is done so well. Any one of these songs will fill the room, as it were, which is not something I find with many albums.
Listening to To Lose My Life makes me want to hear this music live, because that seems to be the environment in which it best belongs. But the recorded version will do just fine for the time being.
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