Album Review: Crash Coordinates - The Business of Making You Move

Crash Coordinates are a band that with 'The Business of Making You Move' enter a scene in which they fit in almost too perfectly. They’re a band that you all too often see America churn out, time and time again; A blend of light pop/rock with somewhat complicated vocals and sugary synths to help back them up.

First Track is ‘In Circles’ with an intro that falls flat, and a pretentious sounding vocal combination, you’re left wondering whether or not to just carry on with the song or just skip it, hoping for something a bit better. However, persistence is a reward. Keep listening and you’re rewarded with a decent chorus and a great solo just to beef things up a bit.

A massive problem is with next song ‘The Scandal’ is you only realise the song has changed about halfway through the track.

(Tip. If you’re going to try and blend two songs on a record see FOB’s 'From Under The Cork Tree', Of All The Gin Joints' into 'Dance Dance' to see how to do it properly)

With that out of the way and realising I’m onto the second song, ‘The Scandal’ is actually a decent song. The Lyrics are witty and the vocals sound fresh and while the chorus isn’t really that catchy the laid back verses ooze character and style.

Halfway through and we’re onto ‘The Goodbye Song’ I wish I could say goodbye to this song. Plainly average filler with only a decent chorus to save it, the introduction chords are reminiscent of Burn Burn by Lostprophets. The mixed vocal bridge is a bit laughable and the verses are very forgettable.

Luckily the quality is returned with the complete and utter unashamed pop song that is ‘Falling For You’ The band demonstrates their real potential with this song. The verses once again go with a swagger and the chorus is cute as hell. I love this song, even if I must admit that the key change is a bit too much, but it fits in with the tone of the song so well it’s hard to criticize it. There will be massive comparisons to the vocal styling’s of William Beckett throughout, but they do manage to make the song sound their own.

Crash Coordinates have their chance to leave an impression with album closer ‘Use You’ and to be honest, they close in style. As I’ve said a bit before, this band brings a massive swagger to their songs, a much needed confidence injected into each song. The chorus is excellent and the solo towards to end was both surprising and a much needed addition to give the song a little bit of an edge.

All in all, this band is quite good, but listening to the whole album it’s clear to see that they haven’t quite decided which way to go in. It’s like listening to a transformation of a band over one CD. The last two songs are great, and is a style I’d love to see them pursue. They’re a band that given the right guidance, could have a fair bit of staying power, I for one will be looking with interest towards their next release.

3/5

Crash Coordinates on MySpace

Chris Marshman