| As the title of Beyond the Neighbourhood, the third album from Athlete, might suggest, this band's days of penning tunes about life on the litter-strewn streets of Deptford, South London are over. Rather, following their 2003 debut Vehicles and Animals, it seems Joel Pott and friends seized on the stratospheric success of Coldplay, Snow Patrol et al and embarked on a career writing songs that rejected the quirky playfulness and observational tone of their early singles for a broad, Everyman appeal. "Tokyo", "Airport Disco", and "Flying over Bus Stops" suggest the genesis of Beyond the Neighbourhood was cooked up on too little sleep in some airport lounge or other, but Athlete take care to play down specifics in favour of a yearning emotional edge and a slightly dislocated spirit bourne up on optimistic synthesisers and rousing choruses that suggest, with a dab of the brow, that nothing's as bad as it seems. What Athlete do isn't rocket science, really, and may disappoint some charmed by the wry charisma they displayed early on. But there's a neat restraint here, coupled to a little smart, Brian Eno-influenced electronic trickery that makes Beyond the Neighbourhood, if not essential, then a worthy addition to the modern MOR crop. -- Louis Pattison |
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