| Not Afraid To Be Happy | - Untitled
- Blue Skies
- Killing A Girl
- Don't Step On The Cracks
- So Blind
- Silver Ladder
- Gameplan
- Perfect Day
- Dancing Girls
- Sense Of Innocence
- Rapeseed
- Messages
- Out on Different
- Rating: 7/10
- Reviewer: Chris Long
|
That should change with the release of Not Afraid To Be Happy. It may be proper grown-up music like Gough’s, but that’s where the similarities end. Hilton cut a path into the 80s sound of Prefab Sprout and Morrissey, and come out with dark smiles on their faces. Not Afraid To Be Happy is, in equal parts, tender, emotional, gentle, dark, brooding, scary, epic and claustrophobic. It aims high in its songwriting and its realisation and falls just short of its ambition. There are several highlights. Killing A Girl is a tumultuous musing on the over protection of children, Silver Ladder has a soft scream exploration of the end of relationships Perfect Day is a silver lining seeker strumalong, Sense Of Innocence is packed with dramatic anger, and above them all, Rapeseed pulls itself through an acoustic stripped meandering on what the future holds. It’s not all so successful, with Messages in particular suffering from a excessively retro feel, but the lows are vastly outweighed by the highs. Not Afraid To Be Happy is an intelligent adult album, a meditation on what it is to be alive in the modern age, and it is solidly enjoyable. |
Have Your Say sandra hopman
Brilliant, fantastic, what more could i say. hugh todd
So much variety and scale with these guys. The funky licks of 'Dancing Girls, the deep and moody 'Rapeseed' and the infectious 'Cracks', next year's Keane for sure. Malc
I listened to this music in the early days of the Blue Cat Cafe and was excited by it then. This was over 18 months ago and i have seen them grow into an amazing band since then. If you get chance, go and see them. If you don't, don't! Donna
I went to see Hilton at the album launch party in Manchester after hearing some of their tracks on BBC GMR and and was very impressed. A refreshing change from the multitude of guitar bands out there at the moment. Kay Earsley
Play it in your car at your own risk, I keep going the long way home. Brilliant Darren Ward
Fab. There's not much else that I can say except that it is something that you want to play over and over again and it is definitely a must for anyone who describes themselves as a music lover. |
