Jewellery Quarter

Witty songwriters The Twang

Nobody would probably argue that the British band The Twang’s debut album was bright and impressive enough to conquer the hearts of young people in the United Kingdom as well as in the rest of Europe and America. Uniting in its music such styles as baggy, Britpop and indie rock these guys have written the songs in which they frankly described their views on relationships, breakup, unexpected events in life and entertainment that comprise their 2007’s debut album Love It When I Feel Like This. The Twang has mainly attracted attention due to witty lyrics in which despite not too intricate rhymes and simple, sometimes even rude vocabulary, contained a significant portion of winning sincerity. As one could expect, two years later the band is ready to please the audience with its new work which is a great, very positive recording Jewellery Quarter. It goes without saying that the band’s front man Phil Etheridge and his friends have retained the previous creation’s basic mood adding to it some more maturity, common sense and, as paradoxical as it may seem, sentimentality. Perhaps the album Jewellery Quarter is not going to become a sensation but it proves to be the debut’s quite worthy continuation and deserves your attention.

A much softer and smoother record Jewellery Quarter

Stylistically the record Jewellery Quarter is similar to its predecessor as the style baggy which The Twang is so fond of is still recognizable practically in each track here but it is at most much softer and smoother. The album opens with a contagious and wonderfully unobtrusive composition Took The Fun, perfect for summer vacation when one wants to forger about everything and just relax a bit. The successful first single Barney Rubble is sure to be appreciated by all who values guitar parties of a good quality combined with emotional vocals – the theme of breakup is presented rather expressively here. The synthesizer’s fantastic sounds add more bright colors to the memorable song Twit Twoo, while Put It On The Dancefloor proves to be one of the album’s highlights. Etheridge outdoes himself on the verse in the masterful rendering of the simple lyrics and we hear all the band members on chorus each of them greatly performing his part which does them credit. Another interesting track is the love anthem Encouraging Sign, whose protagonist represents a young man of the present days crazily in love and ready for the most romantic deeds even though he is not able to express his feelings with words. A more cynical composition Got No Interest contrasts with it; it is not devoid of bitter irony expressed in Etheridge’s crying vocals, whereas Back Where We Started is filled with love of the joyful childhood. The album closes with a soft ballad Another Bus refined with space sounds and pleasing with a catchy tune. Then The Twang offers us a bonus-disc including the acoustic version of the single Barney Rubble and the composition Everything’s A No No which rocks one’s imagination with the most unusual audio effects.

The harmonious sounding of guitars, drums and vocals

It is a well-known fact that a sophomore effort can rarely outshine the debut work although there are exceptions in every rule. As for Jewellery Quarter this creation can rather be included into the standard second albums’ category, though, with a plus. The debut’s charm and professionalism are preserved on it, the musicians’ playing technique is improved and it contains that very harmonious sounding of guitars, drums and vocals makes The Twang a true band. In fact one should note that this band knows how to combine the vocals and the instrumental background in the right way – this knowledge has saved a number of filler tracks on the first album and has proved quite useful on Jewellery Quarter, too. The record will give the listeners a lot of pleasant moments even though some of the songs can be easily skipped – its stronger tracks are quite able to compensate these shortcomings. Therefore, whatever the evil tongues may say the guys are surely going to continue doing what they started on Love It When I Feel Like This and it is very probable that the third work will manage outshine the debut.