Review Summary: Sub-par vocals mar 2nd album from potentially talented Brits. Inconsistent and average, this is made passable on the back of its highlight tracks and occasional quality touches.
The importance of the lead vocalist in a band is often understated. It is a puzzling fact since there are many individual artists out there that make more than a comfortable living while the mass population has absolutely no clue who their backing musicians and/or producers are. Somehow, it seems that being the lead vocalist of a band reduces the importance of the role. In reality, it does not. English band The Rakes are a talented bunch, but they will unfortunately never reach their full potential with Alan Donohoe out front.
Following on from their inconsistent, but relatively critically acclaimed, debut album ‘Capture/Release’, The Rakes return with their follow-up ‘Ten New Messages’. Admirably, the band has changed many components that were striking on their debut. The songs are longer. The music grows on you meaning potentially more lasting value. The production is cleaner. The lyrics are more varied. And finally… Donohoe actually sings rather than speaks in his strong English accent. Unfortunately, that results in his blandness and inability to wow the listener being highlighted even more.
Two songs specifically can be used to prove Donohoe’s weaknesses. Opening up proceedings is the cleverly titled 5 minute long 2nd single ‘The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect’. Like many tracks from the band’s debut, a nice guitar hook weaves in and out of this piece, but pretty much everything else about it is underwhelming. The vocals (which do not begin until the 70 second mark) are so understated that it is practically sleep-inducing and one has to wonder how the hell comparisons can be made between The Rakes and Franz Ferdinand when their lead singers are at the extreme opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to charisma.
The best example however is the penultimate track ‘Time To Stop Talking’. Urgent sounding and impressive musically from its opening note, this song has the best drumming on the album and more quality guitar-work from Matthew Swinnerton. Unfortunately, Donohoe’s vocals are once more inappropriately subdued and the opportunity to hit a home run with a rousing chorus is totally missed.
‘Ten New Messages’ is not all bad though as the three track sequence between tracks 3 to 5 almost literally save this album. 1st single ‘We Danced Together’ does find the correct balance as it nicely treads the line between indie rock and post-punk, resulting in a track that is both rocky & dancey all at once. Yet, even though it achieves the band’s obvious objective of drawing the listener in subtly, it still is far from memorable and lacks the wow factor that holds back The Rakes from greater success.
The shorter ‘Trouble’ is the best song here as it sees the band return to familiar ground with a shorter punkier track. Donohoe’s English snarl is suitable here and the anthemic feel of it works well in combination with excellent guitar and bass lines that show the band’s musical talent. Closing out the highlight trio is ‘Suspicious Eyes’. A fantastic idea is explored as a simple London train-ride post bombing is chronicled by using 2 guest vocalists (rapper Raxstar & the charming Laura Marling). Racial tension is examined interestingly as Raxstar pronounces “…got a beard & a bag so they think I’ve got a bomb”. It doesn’t totally come together successfully, but is exactly the type of involving attention-getter The Rakes have lacked thus far.
Unfortunately, pretty much everything else to be found on ‘Ten New Messages’ is bland, timid and/or average. Furthermore, the extra length to most of the songs (especially when compared to the briefness of many tracks from ‘Capture/Release’) means that some of them are also padded out and mind-numbingly overlong. Sure, there are the occasional quality guitar touches and even some nice atmospherics, but nothing will have you coming back for more.
The frustrating thing about The Rakes is that you can see that they have talent. It is ultimately what makes the band’s 2nd album passable as there are sufficient highlights to hang your hat on and some songs will grow on you if allowed. However, with half of the tracks here being nothing more than average and only a few of them demanding replaying, then “average” is exactly how ‘Ten New Messages’ should be ultimately judged. Furthermore, Donohoe’s vocals are too often sub-par and will unfortunately never allow The Rakes to reach their full potential.
Recommended Tracks: Trouble, We Danced Together & Suspicious Eyes.
