Album Review: Starsailor - All This Life
Starsailor are part of that early 00s soft rock fraternity that mixed the glitz and sparkle of the pop charts with the gruff tones of the working man's indie band.
On a pedestal with the likes of Toploader, they supported Doves and The Manics around North America and The Rolling Stones in Europe - all bands who mastered this technique to varying degrees in their albeit differing sounds.
In 2009 they called a hiatus, and other than a greatest hits record - including a couple of newbies - and the odd headline slot very little has been heard from them since.
Until now.
Nearly a decade later and record number five is in our laps.
And while the tightrope of rock and pop is still negotiated, there is a kind of assuredness from a group of guys who are comfortable and confident in what they are doing. It takes what could have been a 'meh' record and makes it solid if not spectacular.
Having achieved fairly commercial and critical success with early stormers like hit single Alcoholic, they know how to put a grand tune together.
So it is little surprise opener Listen To Your Heart carries big orchestral sounds in the chorus as frontman James Walsh's trademark high vocals hold court.
The funky bass that keeps the beat in Take A Little Time is another high point and provides one of the record's most well-rounded tracks.
Those orchestral emotions ring loud and proud throughout Sunday Best, too. They will make for great live crescendos as the notes crash together in spiralling waves of sound.
Some of the lighter tracks do pass by a little though. Best Of Me feels light and airy in a U2 style, and feels a little passive and soft as a result.
Caught In The Middle follows the same path, with equal results. While a heavier funk slaloms throughout, it again feels a little half hearted in its execution.
Overall it sits perfectly halfway between a great comeback and a questionable decision. While die-hard fans may welcome new material from the Lancashire lads there will be many who question whether an EP half the length may have been enough.
Rating: 7/10
Starsailor bring their new material to Birmingham's O2 Institute 2 on Tuesday, October 17 2017.
