Walking On Cars - Everything This Way

I first heard of Walking On Cars on the Radio Active playlist on Spotify that Ihave been loving recently. I was instantly captivated by the voice of Patrick Sheehy, and delved into the rest of their tracks. The Irish-rock band consists Sheehy, the vocalist, pianist Sorcha Durham, guitarist Dan Devane, Paul Flannery on bass and Evan Hadnett plays drums. Their début album landed on Friday (29th January) - it was a thrilling 'surprise' when I remembered I pre-ordered it to end a stressful mock week nicely. 

The first thing you notice when listening to Walking on Cars is the breathy vocals of Sheehy. With a similar sound to that of James Arthur, it fits perfectly to the tone of the album. You can tell he's very passionate about music by the stress he puts onto each word. Because he has such a strong voice, on top of the diverse amounts of instruments, lyrics you'll have on the brain forever and explosive choruses, Walking on Cars are guaranteed to be a wonderful band to see live. They take a similar approach to Bastille - although Bastille use electronic sounds to a greater extent - in that there is a central alterantive/rock theme, yet there are hints of pop inserted here and there, mostly presented in the punchy, anthem-like choruses. This is where Sheehy's voice works best: personally, I don't feel as though he has incredible range, but his vocals come into their own when the chorus kicks in. The pop/rock mix is quite individual, but after a while it does begin to tire. Many of the songs fit the structure of a light piano or guitar based intro and verses, with a simple yet effective chorus that include more instruments and catchy lyrics. There are, however, a couple of songs such as the lead single Speeding Cars that deviate from this structure. This is why Speeding Cars is probably my favourite track on the album. Yet I feel like once a band or artist finds a sound that suits them they tend to write songs focussed on the style of the song that best represents that sound, so for this reason tracks tend to sound the same. I think this is what has happened with this album. The songs all seem to have a similar theme too. There is quite a depressed atmosphere surrounding each song, with ideas such as losing way in both love and life touched upon throughout. Saying this, there are more prominent themes of pop - sometimes slightly more up-beat - in songs such as Don't Mind Me and At Gunpoint, whereas a heavier rock theme is dominant during songs like Hand in Hand. It will be interesting to see on future albums and singles whether they fit the same structures and themes presented on Everything This Way. I look forward to hearing more from them in the future. 

I was incredibly excited to have this album in my library, so much so I was persuading everyone who would listen to check Walking on Cars out. However, this album disappointed me some what. I suppose I was so enthralled by the diversity and gorgeous lyrics of Speeding Cars I expected to hear songs that portray equally different sounds and themes, but that sadly wasn't the case. Saying that though, the songs are lovely and would be a great album for someone looking to expand their music taste from just pop, since there are identifiable elements of both pop and rock mixed throughout the album.  I would rate this album 3 out of 5 and my favourite songs are Speeding Cars, Always Be With You and Love Backs Down.

My first post of 2016 and my 30th post to this blog! I have had a very delayed start to 2016 in terms of my blog, but revising for mocks amongst signing up to Netflix has meant I haven't had much time on my hands. Hope you're well and it shouldn't be all that long until my next post. 

From, 

Eleanor