Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly Album Review

If one were to look up the definition of 'eclectic', surely this band's name would be found in the Oxford Dictionary. The third offering from this London-Based band (mainly it is Sam Duckworth) is an extensive and diverse delight for the ears. Already being a huge commercial success, Get Cape... is set to garner further fans as they break away from a heavier sound, shown on their previous two LPs, and enter the territories of artists such as Jack Penate and The Script. The result is a brilliant offering that is in no doubt of going down well with both new and existing fans.

Mr Duckworth is able to, very successfully, transgress across various genres. Hands Me Down, the opening track, is stripped down to the bare acoustics to create a quite gentle and quiet opening to the LP. However, this is only a precursor of what we are to expect towards the end of the album. The central tracklisting of the album is a varied journey into jazz, glamour and even the exotic. Collapsing Cities is deservedly the first single from the LP and it is obvious to see why. Sounding like a trip into the London Soho scene, the jazz influences are aplenty here. A fast-paced combination of grime and jazz works efficiently well. Nightlife also follows this trend as we encounter a track that is all about the grandeur and cosmopolitan. Sounding like a drive through Piccadilly Circus at night or down Blackpool Pier in the 1980s, the jazzy and quite-dated sound functions amazingly well.

All of this uplifting gala vibe Duckworth creates is a conscious effort to counterbalance it with the much darker and elegiac route the album moves onto. The LP slows down dramatically towards the end but this is not a bad thing at all, as actually, it is the slower tracks on the LP that are the best. Where Will You Stand? is a poppy ballad (seems a bit obscure to be on this album to be honest) that claims to 'haunt you in the night', an aspect it definitely succeeds in. Stitch by Stitch is very melancholic too but yet is also very successful in being able to combine a heavy dance-beat in the backdrop of the choruses. This is the true definition of being an eclectic artist. He even verges onto the pop-punk scene in The Uprising, definitely one of the best tracks off the LP. The final track, Morning Light, is also a great combination of the uplifting and forlorn. The quite-epic sound of the track is sure to go down in the large venues they are set to play later this year. Giving a hopeful message, it is obvious that there is an aim behind this album. It's philosophy more than music.

As Sam Duckworth experiments with 90s grunge in All Falls Down (an uncanny resemblance to The Prodigy here) and the oriental in All Of This Is Yours, both of these tracks exemplify how sometimes concocting indie with various genres of music cannot work so well. Sounding a bit out of place on the LP, these tracks simply reek of filler and thus contaminate a quite-perfect LP. Similarly the interlude, whilst it creates a listening experience for the audience, also seems quite pretentiously pointless.

This album simply cannot fail. Whilst there may be one or two tracks that Duckworth could have thought twice about, this album is a great addition to their already great discography. Attempting a much softer and darker sound than previously, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly deservedly has self-titled this album. After four years they have finally found their sound. And oh, what a sound it is.

4.5/5

Nima Baniamer