A couple of years old now, but I've unearthed this album in a stack of CDs on my windowsill and have decided it'll make a good review piece and hopefully get a few new people interested in The Quails as they're sadly relatively still unknown.They're hard to place by listing similar bands as they draw inspiration from a range of areas, with an emphasis on the inspiration. They will make you think of other bands, but they won't sound like them, a rare quality, and a nice change from the generic. Frontman Dan Steer has a voice with great power and range, although there may be a bit of studio help at play there as I've not had the pleasure of seeing them live yet.
These influences - from the first couple of tracks of the album, at least as I'm listening to it as I write this out - include The Killers, Franz Ferdinand and possibly even a nuance or two of New Radicals and Remy Zero.
Track three (the title track) has just kicked off and the opening sounds like the beginning of an Iron Maiden / Metallica set, but it breaks into an Arctic Monkeys sound.
It's a mixed-up, enjoyable album. My recollection is a bit hazy, even by my own lax standards - I've had to pause to remember my own age on more than one occassion - but the tracklist should blast through a range of tempos and moods, from the sedate and melancholy to the more upbeat. Often in the same song.
There's something here that'll worm its way into anybody's head. Buy the album, then dice up the songs amongst whichever playlists you desire.
Special mentions need to go out to I Know Myself - a prog-ish punk number and, This Town - an indie-ska blast. And a warning for the closing track ... It's nice ... but it's a hell of a curveball and left me with a bit of confusion as to just why it was there.
