London Grammar, a British formed trio who flung into our lives just five years ago. Over the years, they have grown into a neo-progressive rock indie pop phenomenon.
Their second studio album Truth Is A Beautiful Thing was released on Friday 9th June. A lengthy 18 track album, full of hopeless despair and typical London Grammar angst starting with, “Rooting For You,” a beautiful tearjerker to kick off this emotionally drenched album. The trio’s haunting vocal pours into your heart as you listen to this chilling track.
“Big Picture,” takes on a similar approach at the beginning with its drawn out instrumental and sea siren inspired vocals. The beat picks up and the song becomes softly upbeat, while still infusing hypnotising vocals from lead singer Hannah Reid.
A rich progressive alien-istic instrumental starts the “Wild Eyed” dark mystery of a song off. A desperately sad song that fantastically transitions into a stunning performance from Reid. Her
falsetto is faultlessly portrayed within this mixed emotion classic.
“Oh Woman Oh Man,” A song I perceive to be about the shattering anguish of unrequited love. Lyrics such as, “I’ll always have a thing for you, I’d move the earth but nothing made you want me better,” made me come to this realisation.
The song reveals the awful feeling a lot of us go through at some point, and London Grammar shows it off
gloriously.
“Hell to the Liars,” a rhythmic piece, encapsulates the senses and thrills the ears. A song full of
strength, heavy undertones and somewhat anthemic beats. The next track, “Everyone Else,” takes a fairly different approach in terms of its main musical theme. An eerie start overlaps acoustic strums and faint electric guitar sounds.
The song itself is very catchy; you won’t be able to get the lyrics ‘Everyone else knows why, everyone else knows why, look what you’ve done’ out of your head after the first chorus. “Non Believer,” Oh, this is an exciting one. What a beat. Typical progressive sounds engage you into
this track that’s heart-thumpingly clever and perfectly dramatic.
“Bones of Ribbon,” another song on the album that shows off exactly who London Grammar are. This isn’t an album that you listen to and think wow, every song is so different. BUT, it’s an album thatshows off the talent and certainty of a band formed with a mutual love for heart-spinning lyrics and
musical greatness. Now, that’s impressive.
Half way there now, and “Who am I” doesn’t fail to deliver what this album promises. Almost like the start of a movie, this song transforms you to another place. London Grammar’s music has a habit of shutting off your brain to outside problems and fully enticing you to listen to their songs.
Lyrics such as ‘I’m trying my best to fit in with the rest’ are words I think we can all relate to. ‘Who am I’ is repeated over and over, with the flawless pitch of Hannah’s vocals taking the lead with this track.
“Leave The War With Me” gives off a relaxing, and chilled out vibe feel. An extraordinary entrance to what follows is the album’s title track, “Truth Is A Beautiful Thing.” No one can deny that truth is a beautiful thing, and I don’t think anyone can say this song doesn’t have spectacularly beautiful qualities to it.
Although it doesn’t have anything dramatically different to it; “Truth Is A Beautiful Thing” is still so special to the album. It fully connotes the entire mood of what London Grammar have produced for this album. This song is simple yet singular.
Following on from the above with great composure are “What A Day” and “Different Breeds.” “What A Day” is extremely musically driven. With barely any lyrics to entertain the mind, this is probably my least favourite track on the album. “Different Breeds” is another track inundated with powerful vocals and smothered with brazen beats; a conventional London Grammar track to fit in with the
theme of the album.
“Control” is a track full of progressively electronic sounds and Reid’s magnetic vocals. This song adds a little bit of spice. London Grammar are brilliant at teasing various musical genres in each of their songs on this album; maybe this is a sign of something yet to come?
Truth Is A Beautiful Thing, also blesses us with a couple of demos; “Trials” and a song previously heard on the album, Rooting For You. These are raw pieces of music that throw us into the recording process of London Grammar.
“Rooting For You” is especially brilliant, because you can compare it to the actual recorded piece. It allows you to truly appreciate the making of the album. It’s a very beautiful demo. This is something very special for the fans, and for music lovers.
“May The Best-Church Mix,” the final track by London Grammar and the penultimate track on the album, is a quintessential Grammar track, that flies into the finale of London Grammar’s cover “Bitter Sweet Symphony” by The Verve. This cover was recorded live at the BBC’s Maida Vale studios in London. There’s something so momentous about a live recording; and this one doesn’t fail to deliver such a feeling.
I have always appreciated this bands faultless delivery of musical greatness. I truly believe this album
has something so personal at its core. And without a doubt, Truth Is A Beautiful Thing will feverishly treat your eardrums, soak your heart with sadness, and transfer you into the world of everything
London Grammar.
London Grammar Truth Is A Beautiful Thing is out now. Purchase on iTunes here.
Words By Stephanie Penman
