Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/theboxerrebellion
Video: Flashing Red Light Means Go
Album Ratings: Exits 8.7/10 Union 9.1/10
Buy: Union + Exits
I First got into Boxers in 2005, I'm not sure how I ended up listening to Exits, but I did, and I loved it and promptly went to see them at the ICA, support was by Redjetson (RIP :() and Pure Reason Revolution and it was an epically good gig.
Exits was a fantastic debut, bad luck, mis-management or just the ineptness of the British public to see past the Kaiser Chiefs albums meant it was completely missed and alongside illness of the lead singer Nathan Nicholson(which lead them to cancel a well documented tour support slot with The Killers) I for one thought TBR might not return with album two.
2008 there were signs of a return, myspace only singles (at that time) Broken Glass / JKKFC / Waiting hinted at things to come. Fast foward to January 2009 and itunes of all places out of nowhere picks Evacuate as single of the week and releases Union, the second Boxers album exclusively.
It kicks off with Flashing Red Light Means Go, a fantastic drum beat resounding throughout the track and is one of my favourites. Evacuate was a perfect choice for first single of the album, heavy guitars duelling throughout with another great drum beat behind. Another faster paced highlight is a reworking of an old song, These Walls Are Thin, a fast paced guitar number that highlights Nathan's fantastic vocal ability.
Union has more melodic tracks than its predecessor, this isn't a bad thing. Soviets is a beautiful acoustic song then accompanied with yet more drumming and another stand-out is the atmospherics during the enigmatic ‘The Gospel Of Goro Adachi’ whilst final track the beautifully haunting Silent Movie closes the album with wonderful grace.
The album doesn't die with a whimper either, Forces and live favourite Semi-Automatic give it a final gloss and catapults the LP into a must buy of recent times.
Union shows the great confidence displayed by TBR, four years is a long time, but a solid album that shows great development from Exits and is an essential album of 2009.
Released by HMV(!) in September on CD finally, the CD has some nice video extras and a couple of bonus tracks - one of them the stunning Broken Glass. See them on tour in October in the UK.
Evacuate Promo Video:
Broken Glass Promo Video:
