Razorlight - Up All Night

At the time of going to press "Up All Night"  has been out over a month and Razorlight are one of the most talked about bands in the country. Designer Magazine asks the question how did one of the most hated bands in the country suddenly turn it all round and win over every critic in the country including ourselves.

The first time we saw Razorlight live supporting the Hope Of The States phrases such as "a clear case of style over substance" and "the noughties version of Menswear" were thrown about with casual abandon. By the time we saw them two months later on Suede's last tour we admitted that "once you get Razorlight you'll really want to seek out everything about them". The simple fact was that "Rock N Roll Lies" had gnawed its way into our head and we had started to realize that the genius of Razorlight was their subtleties. The fact that they're not a full on onslaught all the time and they aren't afraid to let their songs breathe. While Borrell has got a few more albums before he can call himself a genius, Razorlight's debut album is likely to stand the test of time much better than The Strokes, The Libertines and The Vines debut releases. There's a timeless quality to the music which signifies that long after the band have lost favour with the press the recordings will stand out as great representations of the time.

"Up All Night", the title track, is Razorlight at their best. The chords ring out while Borrell's voice sits over the top. Take each separate part of the band and they sound woefully naive and simplistic, but placed together it's magic. Borrell is always the focus and the rest of the band are simply along for the ride. "Stumble And Fall" at first listen is Razorlight at it's most euphoric, listen again and you'll hear those Krautrock influences Bjorn talks about in the repetition of the track. "Get It And Go" sounds like a 60s girl group and it really would be great to see this re-worked as a duet between Borrell and Rebekah Delgado from Ciccone spitting the lyrics back at each other. The albums closing track "Fall, Fall, Fall" is a stark ballad reminiscent of Jeff Buckley and features the line "people make me lonely sometimes". When you consider that the albums opening line is "When did you decide to start living like a suicide" there's definitely more to Borrell's mind than he's willing to display in interviews.

Razorlight are a band who aren't afraid to bare their souls and for that we have to applaud them. It seems that the band everyone thought were clearly style over substance actually have more going for them than most. If they can follow up "Up All Night" Razorlight could just become the most important British Band of the last decade.

Alex McCann

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