We might start out thinking rock and roll is all about rebellion and changing the world, that we should wield our guitars like gunslingers firing off rabble-rousing rhetoric and cooler-than-thou sounds. Then we grow up and realise how dumb those ideas actually are. And once we do that, we can write about things that actually matter. We can’t change the world, but we can shape our own minuscule corner of it, and that is all you should really aim to do.
And that is exactly what The Race is found doing here. After a long hiatus, they returned to the fray to write songs that reflected where their lives now were, and so the aptly named FAMILY is a quartet of songs that muse on subjects such as friendship and parenthood, ageing and faith, love and relationships and the difficult balance between protecting loved ones while allowing them room to grow.
‘Best Is Yet To Come’ gets to the heart of relationships, reminding you that if you do it right, things get better, easier, more enjoyable, and more comfortable as the years pass. That might not sound the most romantic idea, but it’s more poignant, honest, and real than any song about flowers and frippery and rhyming moon with June and the like. And it delivers its message over a blend of chiming indie waves and dynamically fluent pop-rock washes.
‘D of E’ is somehow simultaneously anthemic and understated, if you can get such a thing, a shimmering sonic sea of subtlety and seduction, not unlike the beguiling soundscapes The National were so adept at painting. ‘Family Tree’ also blurs the line between pop contagion and more rock and roll, perhaps even shoegazing urges, muscle and melody dancing deftly and slowly together.
‘Where You Go I Go’ is again a simple statement that speaks volumes, a three-minute summation of The Race’s many sonic moods, taking in chilled spaciousness and dreampop delicacy, heartfelt lyricism and raw and distantly roaring walls of guitar, wilfully lazy beats and a vibe that feels loose but you know has been created through a series of smart artistic choices.
Four tracks that say so much, four songs that revel in a swirl of sounds and styles, four tunes that encompass many genres, and indeed genre-hops, one top EP and one great band.
It’s great to have you back, folks!
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