Razorlight - Razorlight

As an introduction to Razorlight, their debut ‘Up All Night’ was perfect: brash, dramatic and romantic. It sounded like a band fully intent on crashing into your senses.

The main difference between that and its follow up is restraint. Two years of experience and sharing stages with masters of their craft has certainly shaped Razorlight into a much more capable unit.
‘In The Morning’, with its shades of Talking Heads, kicks things off. Immediately the changes in the band are apparent; theirs is a mature, polished sound that’s the product of a sterling group effort. ‘Who Needs Love?’ for example, could never have been on the debut. Behind Johnny’s introspective line of questioning (“Who needs the morning and the joy it brings? Not I”), a sparse piano and simple drums eventually welcome bass and then guitars into the fray, climaxing with Johnny’s rousing “Come on, Andy!”, encouraging the drummer to kick it up a gear. You can almost see the four at work, a knowing smile circulating.
And so they’re on a roll. The Motown swing of ‘Hold On’ appropriately gives way to the magnificent ‘America’ – an anthem in waiting, before Johnny’s back tugging the heartstrings in ‘Before I Fall To Pieces’ and ‘I Can’t Stop This Feeling I’ve Got’, a delicate and graceful hymn of loss with a big flourishing finish.
Powerful and assertive, yet subtle and vulnerable; this is a defining moment for Razorlight – witness their promotion to the premier league with this mighty and refined display of accomplishment. Welcome back lads.