Out today is the debut album for London-based indie trio, Narrow Plains. It’s an energetic and exciting release, promising only good things for the band.
We’ve featured Narrow Plains a few times here on EP, and we’ve been greatly looking forward to this album. Following their sold-out launch on 22nd January, and the recent release of ‘I Should Have Known’, we eagerly anticipated what we were going to hear.
Opening track of the 13 from Narrow Plains is ‘Restless Mind’, which starts with a persistent drumbeat before each guitar is added. The Americana feel of the song is perhaps due to the folk guitar; it’s a great introduction to the rest of the album. The husky vocals of Charlie Ferriday are beautiful: the band has come a long way in the four short years since their inception.
Following this song is ‘I Should’ve Known’, which we reviewed back in January. It’s got a great blues/rock feel to it, almost rockabilly. ‘Evermore’, one of the longer tracks, reminds us of Bryan Adams and shows how skilled a vocalist Charlie is; he’s able to change his singing style from song to song. Next up is ‘So Rewind’, which had previously been a BBC Track of the Day. It’s a gentle love song of sorts, and perfectly encapsulates how tightly this band works together. It’s hard to believe that Narrow Plains have only been together since 2012.
‘Belong Together’ is a love song of sorts, the protagonist of the song acting cautiously with regard to the object of his affections. Our favourite track of the album, ‘Keep You Anyway’, opens up with gorgeous guitars and gentle percussion. The song switches back and forth between styles yet the percussion (not to mention some great harmonica!) holds it together, so it’s all done seamlessly.
‘Ghost’, once again, has the great guitars, and Charlie proves his skills as a vocal chameleon once again, this time sounding like Coldplay’s Chris Martin. The whole song could easily have belonged to Coldplay, it’s got exactly the right balance between vocals and instrumentation.
Narrow Plains launched their album at O2 Academy in London in a sold-out performance, and for good reason. The album is well crafted from beginning to end, and is not just a brilliant debut album, but a brilliant album altogether. We’re expecting to hear a lot more from Narrow Plains in 2016 and beyond. Download ‘Narrow Plains’ on iTunes from today.
Find Narrow Plains on their website, Facebook, and Twitter.
