Above Them - Water Lane

I've been a fan of Above Them for a long time. Back when I lived in Cardiff we saw them all the time and it was always great fun. I saw them a handful of time after moving to London, but shows became less frequent as, I suppose, real life started catching up. The last time I saw them was in 2014 (at the Deadpunk all-dayer) and before that was 2012 in Brixton. The fact that they made one last album is something of a treat then; they could have easily just drifted away. I'm very glad they didn't.

Water Lane is a great album, even better than the second in my opinion. It even made my end of year list for 2015. As we've come to expect there are huge choruses and great songs. I enjoyed it from the start, although it was Young & Petrified that really turned the album from being a good album into a great one - sometimes I just need a song to kick me into really listening and that song was it on Water Lane. The rest of the album has some great moments too, like We're All Going Down and Sink or Gin.

I got this copy as part of my Specialist Subject Records subscription, which has been great. I tend to buy most records they release anyway, so it's nice to have them sent to me every time. There have been some nice discoveries from other bands that I didn't know too (which I'll write about in due course).

On hearing Water Lane my friend Sarah asked if it was a compilation of other songs because it sounded familiar. I see that as praise for the album - Above Them have written an album that sounds so perfectly like Above Them that it sounds like a best-of, which is all I ever wanted them to do.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 12
Cost: £10 new
Bought: Specialist Subject Records subscription
When: 21/09/15
Colour: Mint green
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code