Music > Album Reviews

The Blind Hearts // Crying Shame

18/09/12

Release 5th Novemeber 2012

The Blind Hearts - Crying Shame (Rail Road Records)

It’s funny, because Animal Collective, Death Grips, and Bon Iver all exist, bands that are all an extreme in their own right, those acts who play straight up rock and roll kind of get swept into the ‘middle of the road’ pile. And that pile too often suggests a likeness to Keane, which is as damning an indictment as I’ve ever heard. But the fact of the matter is most people don’t want to listen to hardcore hip hop day in day out. Some people prefer music that hasn’t got a thousand and one samples. And not everybody wants to be emotionally crippled by an album. Some people just like normal music. And again, even as I’m typing this it seems like my appraisal of ‘normal’ is somehow negative, and tinged with some sort of arrogance. Which I guess it’s partly true. But then at the same time, there are plenty of people who think that my music taste is awful, so who am I to judge what people want. The Blind Heart’s debut EP is a simple one, but you can’t say they don’t achieve what they set out to do with style. It’s mainstream Ameriana at its best; the type of record that gets stuck in your head without you even realising it. The hooks are so damn obvious, but they’re also undeniably catchy. If you’re looking for a replacement for the now seemingly capitulated Kings of Leon then The Blind Hearts’ debut is a great place to start.

Alex Throssell 7/10