Review Summary: I am the tree watching the beauty, you're falling around me, is your heart on empty?
The ‘concept’ album is a largely hit or miss idea regardless of genre, and such records have been known to spawn great success (I direct you to ‘The Wall’ and ‘Metropolis Pt II’ as prime examples) and great failure (‘Music from the Elder’…). For a band to put out a ‘concept’ EP is probably even more daring, and for said EP to be only the band’s second release in a career that has thus far been alive for little over a year is surely only adding to the risk. So what is it that Wales’ Tiger Please were hoping to achieve by making such an outlandish move? Well perhaps the results can explain…
The concept behind ‘Seasons’ is not one of a true storyline, there isn’t a mad scientist, or a dragon, or a lord of darkness, instead Tiger Please have opted for a more simplistic approach, creating a five track record featuring a track dedicated to each season. The opener, and title track, is a strings introduction that, whilst very simple and short, manages to emanate beauty and emotion not unlike that of the following four tracks. Maybe a purist would like to point out that summer is not, in fact, the first season, but how can one argue with the placement of a track featuring such luscious clean guitar riffs and an anthemic chorus to match?
Yes the comparisons are sure to be made; lead vocalist Leon (presumably he does not have a second name) does oftentimes show similarities to Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol and even Darius Rucker of Hootie & the Blowfish on the odd occasion. Fortunately, the U2 comparisons are likely to die down somewhat, with the band opting to use the delay pedal far more sparsely than on their previous offering. What does remain, however, is the band’s knack for huge uplifting choruses, beautiful melodic passages and thoughtful lyrics, only these abilities have amplified somewhat significantly since their first release.
To put it bluntly, Tiger Please will be huge one day. There is no reason that these colossal tracks could not be blasted out from the stages of the world’s biggest festivals and venues sometime in the future, and I am willing to put my money where my mouth is and say that one day that possibility will be realised. Once described as a ‘time bomb waiting to explode’, this is a description I could not agree with more, and to think this is only the band’s second release! The music world is in for one hell of a shock.
