Released:
Rating:
London Grammar are not your average band.
Label: Metal & Dust / Columbia
Released: 9th June 2017
Rating: ★★★★
You could say that ‘Truth Is A Beautiful Thing’, London Grammar’s second full-length, is much anticipated. Truth be told, that probably wouldn’t be entirely accurate. The gap between this and 2013’s ‘If I Wait’ has felt much longer than four years. In that time, the world has changed. Stadium-filling legends can get away with four-year gaps between records without much trouble, but for fresh talent of such promise, such a lengthy wait rarely ends well.
And so, from waiting excitedly for London Grammar’s next move, we sort of started to forget we were looking out for something at all. Occasionally the memory would poke through, but as new bands come and go, those echoes get weaker by the month. How stupid were we?
See, London Grammar – they’re not your average band. They don’t need to play by the same rules. They’re not out there looking for that high-energy radio banger to grab the immediate attention. They’re special, for one glorious reason – Hannah Reid’s incomparable voice.
From the first line of comeback track ‘Rooting For You’, offered up right back at the start of 2017, it was like the years melted away. Warmth, vulnerability, strength, range, power – it felt like the morning sun rising. In one moment, everything we were missing became perfectly clear.
The magic of London Grammar runs deeper than just one natural talent, though. The band’s ability to match that strength with perfectly pitched arrangements is virtually unmatched. Title-track ‘Truth Is A Beautiful Thing’ shows it best. What some would describe as sparse actually feels full of meaning. Backed by a single piano, the spaces inbetween matter just as much as the notes themselves. When you think about it, that’s London Grammar to a tee. Stephen Ackroyd
