Embrace // Embrace

30 years is a long lifetime for a band. It means that Embrace, founded in 1990, have seen just about each new evolution in the music industry first hand. Hell, they can even boast Coldplay as a support band when Chris Martin et al were just starting up. Surfing on the waves of new musical trends, Embrace have succeeded in surprising their fans with each new wave of a release, bending and mixing genres along the way that immediately lifts their status from confident surfers to mysterious alchemists. Guitars, pianos and electro; the combination of these three distinct timbres might seem a dangerous experiment, but Embrace have succeeded in creating a giant, glittering pot of gold out of these ingredients. The lid of their pot, ‘Protection’, kicks in the door with a thundering beat, as if this is the electricity the band needs to do their experiment. The energy that flows out of this lightning crash continues to keep up the good spirit throughout the rest of the album. Tracks such as ‘Follow you Home’ and ‘A Thief On My Island’ contain uncountable amounts of instruments, each of them performing their precise task and contributing to a fantastic symphony. Musical alchemy is one of the best things there is. 30 years to the good, you might forgive them for using old-fashioned formulas to create their music, but surprisingly enough, they’ve presented a fresh, daring album with their latest one.

9/10 Yarreth Plysier