Tribes - Wish To Scream Album Review

Having released their debut album 'Baby' at the beginning of 2012, Camden outfit Tribes haven't rested on their laurels bringing out a follow up.  Support band aficionados may have caught them in the last few years with the likes of The Kooks and Kaiser Chiefs, while anyone wishing to catch them in person now can take note of them currently touring the UK.

As you listen through 'Wish To Scream', the re-occurring thought is that Tribes may as well be Starsailor renamed - and not just because vocalist Johnny Lloyd at times sounds like James Walsh.  Like the Wigan outfit there is a favouring of mid-tempo, radio-friendly guitar songs that are perfectly reasonable, yet extremely difficult to get enthusiastic about.  The near-dozen tracks rarely establish themselves from one another, so where 'Get Some Healing' is nice enough and could encourage a sing-song, it struggles to really define itself against, say, 'Englishman On Sunset Boulevard'.  The gospel choir on the latter could certainly have been omitted though.  For the briefest of moments 'How The Other Half Live' sounds as though it could be a cover of Oasis' 'Supersonic', but Liam Gallagher's sneering attitude couldn't be much further from this polished production, while 'Looking For Shangri-La' fails to convince it is the anthem it wishes to be.  This shouldn't be mistaken as saying the song is bad, just that there's a lack of verve that is prevalent throughout the record that makes it equally difficult to love or loathe the songs. 

Alex lai