Longview
Mercury

THE REVIEW

The name of the band is fascinating, the album title intriguing, the back of the cover captures the four members in a beautiful black-and-white photo by the sea at sunset; a sense of infinity... Like a beautiful flower, this CD opens up, but it does so slowly, silently, almost unnoticed.

They were labeled to me as the "new Coldplay," but they really bear little resemblance to Coldplay. British and at their debut album, these Longview surprised me in a strange way. The sound is (always the same) made in England, the melodies are always the same in the end; but here there is something different… an indefinable something enveloping, warm, deep, and morbid that is not found in many bands. It might be those relaxing Gibson (?) chords, it might be that evocative voice so full of vitality, but these Brits really know (how to copy?). They stand out for their style in playing rock ballads (leaving aside the acoustic) with that touching guitar that penetrates and filters straight to the heart. I don’t care if this sound is just folding in on itself, I’ll keep listening to it forever because in cases like these you never fall into the banal. The whispered sweetness of songs like “Further,” “If you Asked,” “Fallin for You,” “Falling Without You” really makes a difference in a time a bit too dark for my conservative tastes…

Objectively this (like many others) is a superfluous CD, but I’m happy to have it. It may not mean anything to you, or, even worse, it might disgust you, but if you don’t listen to it with your own ears, you’ll never know.
"Thus in this immensity drowns my thought: and to be shipwrecked is sweet to me in this sea.”
Rating 3.5/5