Athlete
Tourist

THE REVIEW

"Tourist," the second effort by the very young Athlete, is a true surprise in this 2005, a year lacking a bit of the "real novelty," the usual "big thing." The album follows their debut (still a bit raw) two years ago in 2003, the "Vehicles & Animals" that brought the band to the forefront, thanks to the impact of singles like "El Salvador," "You Got The Style," and "Westside."

Let’s be clear, here there is definitely the absence of the immediate impact and lively atmosphere of the debut tracks, but there is certainly no lack of emotion and pathos from that concept today referred to as “torch song,” typical of British neorock (Coldplay, Travis, Radiohead, Muse, Snow Patrol to name just a few), where abrasive guitars and distortions often make way for more rarefied and melancholic, sometimes narcoleptic, atmospheres. The eleven tracks of "Tourist" are a fabulous concentration of what the aforementioned modern-rock has produced in the last five years and live intensely thanks to the magnetic vocals and guitar arrangements of Joel Pott, a sort of more elegant and less raucous J Mascis, as if suddenly Dinosaur Jr. had fallen hopelessly in love with Coldplay.

Hence, splendid sonic visions can be found in the grooves of "Chances" and "Half Light", with string and electronic keyboard play that marks sudden rhythm changes drawing heavily from catchy pop, without being gaudy. Echoes of modern blues make the title track and the beautiful "Modern Mafia" indispensable; falsetto harmonies here and there enrich and make "If I Found Out" and "Twenty Four Hours" contagious; while "I Love" is a delicate and highly successful example of new millennium folktronica, as if Tim Buckley or Nick Drake were tinkering with an early '80s synth instead of their inseparable six-string.

In short, a beautiful album that grows with each listen and is destined to remain through the years for its simple originality and straightforwardness, which only a few today can claim to create. Enlightening music of authorship and entertainment.