I normally have to listen to CDs a few times before forming a fair opinion, but by track 4 of Coalhouse's 'The Trauma of Natural Selection', I had come to the decision that yes, I quite liked it. Perhaps it's the 90s flavour I find appealing. Perhaps the vocals remind me a touch of my favourite early nineties singers. I think that mostly, it's because this record demonstrates good, honest, quality songwriting- something that seems to have been replaced by an 'indie-by-numbers' approach in the cases of many modern bands. It's refreshing, unpretentious, and unafraid to draw on diverse influences; I can hear blues, britpop, old school indie, even grunge...hell, sometimes I can hear Greg Dulli, which can only be a positive thing. No doubt, you'll hear other things- but despite all these 'similarities', Coalhouse still manage to sound like themselves. One listen down, and I've gone from intrigued to impressed.
Picks include the haunting melodies of 'This Broken Smile', opener 'Better Man' with it's rock 'n' roll feel, and the super-cool riffage of 'Breathe In:Out'. Overall, this is a really fantastic record, which I imagine the inevitable energy of a live performance could only add to.
KCR will be playing some songs and doing a feature on Coalhouse, this Monday between 7-9pm, so if you fancy checking them out, tune in to 106.7fm.
What next?More by Coalhouse? More up and coming? More rock?