The Departure: great new band with a debut disc

No even one with a cynical disposition can‘t complain about music releases this year due to there being a number of debut albums to lift these six months above the average. Add to that list The Departure, a young band that uses the current template of interest and transforms it into something for the present and a fair amount of looking forward.

Opening with a widescreaning ‘Just Like TV’, the first impression is Magazine for its scope as well as the guitar sound recalling the late John McGeogh. ‘Talkshaw’ is more in the mode of Gang Of Four although much warmer than the ‘old’ [and recently reformed whom The Departure supported] sound. For a good measure it appears the spirit of the song to be on the crossroads with Talking Heads, something Go4 got into during the latter part of their career.

A cut further, on ‘Only Human’, connection can be made with a more Bauhaus-ian realm, which simply demonstrates these chaps are not one-track ponies. ‘All Mapped Out’ [last year’s single, alongside ‘Be My Enemy’] already sounds like an old friend with its chiming guitar and funky drumbeat. [Somewhat similar to what Franz Ferdinand have ‘patented’.]

The Departure were signed to Parlophone early last year and have since built up a good live reputation in the UK, supporting the Killers, Manic Street Preachers, Placebo and, aforementioned, Gang Of Four. When they appeared supporting them earlier in the year, we thought they were showing “fair amount of confidence live but there is, one feels, a potential yet to be realised.” They’ve started…

Although formed only about 18 months ago they’ve started to sound really serious and by the time you hit ‘Changing Pilots’ it is time to get lost in a stratosphere. The guitar again sounds like it is escaping Northampton base for a ‘Brave New World’. That angular guitar keeps this album somewhere between art-pop and indie-rockers. This is clever pop music, as it used to be made before… celeb-status became the reason to ‘launch’ music career.

The Departure’s debut album was produced by Steve Osborne (New Order, Placebo, Suede) and mixed by Alan Moulder [known for his Depeche Mode work] that gives this disc an extra kick. ‘Dirty Words’ already features sparkling Top 30 anthems and, frankly, there is much more here to choose from. ‘Arms Around Me’ sound so huge in a New Wave terms it employs many different elements to create one epic song.

The five members are assertively led by charming David Jones who appears to spread his creative wings all over ‘Time’ that rings like a mascot enraptured by its duty. The title tracks end the lessons in multiplicity of sounds and we should move on. The band is currently concentrating on festival appearances but should ideally be caught in a smaller, packed and sweatier venue. They thrive there in all the [impending] glory!

8/10

Tour dates:

25 June - Glastonbury Festival
09 July - Oxygen Festival, Ireland
10 July - T in the Park, Scotland
05 August - The Corner Hotel, Melbourne, Australia
13 August - Summersonic, Japan
14 August - Summersonic, Japan
18 August - Pukkelpop Festival, Belgium
20 August - V Festival
21 August - V Festival