Like I Belong is Great Cynics's second album, and it's a perfectly fine record. I've been keeping up with the band since before they were a band of more than one person (and before the "Great"); their first album was brilliant and I routinely found the songs in my head for a year or so after it came out. For reasons I can't remember, I bought the cd rather than the vinyl (I think it was simply that Banquet only had the cd that day, or maybe it just cheaper and I was feeling thrifty that day. It came with a fridge magnet, but at some point I lost that. I'm not often so careless with memories or belongings).
About two-and-a-half years later, Like I Belong came out. I was excited - I'd seen the band play an incredible set at Fest and it felt like all the songs from that first album had become stand-out tracks. I enjoy Like I belong, but I've never made the same connection with it. The songs are all nice, but few have those moments that really grab you - Younger Than Everyone, Back to Hackney and One Like You are all highlights, but they don't appear until the second side. The albums that followed were more adventurous in different ways, and it worked (more on those another time).
When I want to listen to Great Cynics, I feel like I choose fairly arbitrarily between their albums (although perhaps less-so the first one, because I know I'll have those songs in my head for weeks). But when I choose Like I Belong I come away less satisfied than when I choose the others. Like I said, it's a good album, but I've just never hit a stride with it. Maybe one day I will.
Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 13
Cost: £15 new
Bought: Banquet Records
When: 25/01/14
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code
