Album Review: The Promise Hero - Okay, Cool

There is something vaguely child-like about The Promise Hero. I think it has something to do with the godawful lyrics that sound like they were written by a 6 year old, or perhaps even the acoustic work that sounds like it was lifted directly out of “Ladybird’s Guide to Playing Acoustic Guitar”. Listening to this saccharine sweet tosh is the aural equivalent of being forced to watch Love Actually over and over and over again, while Richard Curtis pumps granulated sugar into your blood stream.

Album opener “Fall” is quite, quite awful. Using triple repetition “blah blah blah, fall, fall fall, ‘cause I can’t find a reason to get over you, and when you call, call, call…” This is just terrible songwriting – the sort of thing you would hear at your school talent show.

Somehow, by the time the third track 'No Matter What I Do', which aims to cross the Shins and Beach Boys into an acoustic pop ditty, rolls around the lyrics have got worse! “No matter what I do I think of you, when I’m feeling blue, you help me through.” How hard is it to think of a different rhyme?! There’s not even a scheme there. I can envisage The Promise Hero sitting in their parent’s house with a pad of paper and all the words they can think of that rhyme with ‘you’ – and then putting them all into this song.

'All These Days' is at least palatable, but by this point I’ve lost the will to listen. Then the last song on the album begins “I’ve just found a smile, first one in a while”. I mean, come on. Even Sesame Street songwriters would reject that.

Fans of this should be embarrassed.

0/5

'Okay, Cool' by The Promise Hero is available now through TDR Records.

The Promise Hero on MySpace, Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.

Nick Robbins