National Pastime – Their Star Is Rising

June 30th, 2010

“My Star Has Fallen” is the title of the second album by Exeter band National Pastime (www.myspace.com/nationalpastime), which has just been released on their own indie label Pastime Records (Pastime 008). This however, seems a bit inappropriate as I think their Star is actually rising, especially after listening to this album. This is a superb follow up to their first album “Short Stories” and their “Paper Planes” EP, which both came out on the wonderful and increasingly prolific Pop Noise Records, a label that is quickly making a name for themselves, by consistently releasing some of the finest UK POP.

 

 

 

The album is called the unofficial album, which I am not exactly sure why, but may that it features some reworked tracks from their earlier releases, and the press kit also says that they recorded this “album themselves in their rehearsal studio whilst work is ongoing on their second official studio album … at Off The Rails Studio”. Maybe it is because this album was not recorded in the studio, that it seems to have a sense of excitement and a rawness that really suits these songs.

The introductory song “Goldsworthy Gurney” packs a real punch and I love the fuzzed out guitars (courtesy of Dave Goodes) and how they interplay with the piano, as a very strong rhythm section (Andy Botterill & Kal George – if you seem to recognize some of the names, it’s because they all play in what seems endless numbers of other bands also) keeps the song clipping along. I love the passionate and yearning vocals by Andy Padfield which are exceptional, especially on my favourite track “Judge A Book By Its Cover” and in some strange way they remind me of The Stockholm Monsters, who curiously have a song called “National Pastime” (which I think the band is getting tired of me saying this). Also among my favourites from the album are the slower and elegant “My Star Has Fallen” and “Running Scared”, with it’s sweeping keyboards/piano.

 

 

They have also been compared to some of the bands on Sarah Records like The Field Mice and Teenage Fanclub (Creation Records), but at times they draw from a much wider range of sounds and even remind me of early Echo & the Bunnymen, like on the intro of “Houston” or early Psychedelic Furs and even a bit of Joy Division on “Bad News Story”. This is all good in my books as these are all bands that I love, so it makes it for an even more enjoyable listen.

Now I am even more eagerly awaiting their second official album and here is to hoping that their star continues to rise.

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