Any band that’s brave enough to change direction when they’d already got it right deserves respeck at the very least, and Liverpool’s The Open are definitely of that ilk. With their debut album The Silent Hours being critically acclaimed but invariably likened to Echo And The Bunnymen or early Stone Roses, God bless them for coming back with something more diverse.
To pluck from the many styles they employ, the lead-off single ‘We Can Never Say Goodbye’ changes from blatantly thieving The Korgis’ minimalist ‘Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime’ for the intro, before picking up the guitars and rocking like Editors at their most triumphant. You never knew you needed such a combination in your life, but now that you’ve got it…
Further into the album, ‘My House’ delves into dischord and frenzied vocals, before changing tack completely – a move Mansun fans will appreciate. Yet who’d have thought the same body of work would feature the delights of a smooth, jazzy trumpet. This new addition to their sound is simply ingenious, lining it up as the first to go on at a late night session in a Miles Davis kind of way, and benefitting from the double whammy of keeping at bay indie-schmindie boys looking for the new “The” band.
Whatever’s going out with the sound though, the atmospherics of the album ensure its sum is bigger than its parts. Singer and songwriter Steve Bayley clearly has more on his mind than what’s cheaper, sliced or fresh bread. The weight of his worries, translated perfectly into audio form, gives weight to the authority it carries.