ALBUM REVIEW: Victory Kicks 'The Young Flood'

Rating:

This year has been fantastic for floaty, inoffensive indie tunes, with music fans everywhere being spoilt by the likes of Superfood and Jaws. We now have plenty of summery songs to get us going, through those increasingly gloomy Winter mornings. Victory Kicks’ The Young Flood is yet another welcome addition to this spirit-lifting playlist.

John Sibley’s vocal is as charming as it was in March’s EP, The Decibel Age or June’s Emergency Noise. But it’s also more confident; the record is crisp sounding and the components equally vital in creating full bodied tracks. ‘The Kids Don’t Know’ has hints of Dan Gillespie-Sells (The Feeling’s frontman) due to the simplistic but catchy lyrical; it’s easy for the listener to get lost in the melodic haze this track induces. It’s satisfying to hear how far the bands’ sound has come in just a few short months as well as exciting, too.

The title track is somewhat lacklustre, but nonetheless makes for good background music if you’re trying to write an essay. Instead, the single ‘I Got Drunk (I Called You Up)’ is an incontestable highlight. Birthed out of a pretty acoustic introduction, the song conveys the frustration of a dumpee “heartbroken can’t you tell”. Perhaps it’s the relatability factor, perhaps it’s the sombre tone this track takes on in marked contrast to its upbeat siblings; either way it’s a clear standout from The Young Flood.

We’re all familiar with the maxim “save the best for last”, so too it seems, are Victory Kicks. ‘One Day Nation’ collides Sibley’s vocal with a reverberating hook that will worm its way into your head; it’s short and sweet and neatly encapsulates Victory Kicks’ simplistic but stylish melodies whilst simultaneously pinching the award for the record’s strongest song.

Are Victory Kicks the hottest band in the world right now? No, they’re not. But they are really good, and have bettered themselves twice in short succession. It’s for that reason I’m keeping my eyes fixed on them, eager to see what they’ll do next.

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Beth Kirkbride

I'm Beth Kirkbride and I came out of the womb with a pen in my hand. Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but I have wanted to write for as long as I can remember. I'm currently studying for my A Levels [English Lit, English Language, History] with the aspiration of reading English Literature at Uni. Easily entertained, I like live music, the internet, eating and sleeping.