The Subways
Young For Eternity

THE REVIEW

The first time I caught a glimpse of the “Rock & Roll Queen” video, I thought: “damn, that fag Molko went blonde.” Long live myopia.

Here I am at the premiere. The Subways then. From England, debut album. An eye on the video that plays repeatedly on rocktv. Then two ears on the whole album. For those who haven’t already written them off, I’ll try to give them a chance. Let’s see the glass half full then: the album is interesting, maybe more than the single, which after about ten listens might already be tiring (or maybe not).
The Subways could easily be just another clone of a clone. The diet coke already with lemon in it, on the shelf of the contemporary media–musical bargain basement. I say no.

The ingredients: Nirvana-esque grunge, early Oasis guitar riffs, Rock’n'Roll attitude (The Vines, The Strokes). Billy Lunn’s vocals at times remind me of “The Music.” More often, we find him yelling, taking turns at the microphone with bassist Charlotte Cooper, like a good child of the R&R Revolution. As they say, the angry cousins of those thousand bands with “The” in front. Honest melodies, really charged, not even banal.
The trio skillfully places the occasional acoustic ballad here and there. What’s compelling is the energy and passion they convey. If the live effect is the same, then they rock. I believe if they find their path while maintaining their “teen spirit,” without abandoning normal evolution, they’ll have a lot to say (and us to listen). On the flip side, we’ll find ourselves with yet another band that’s already arrived before they even started, having used all the available tricks to attract MTV and the like.

This, if the glass is half empty. Yet, now that I’ve reached the end of the album, the glass really seems half full to me.