Album Review

The Others – Probate

• 18th Mar 2008

The Others are an indie band who want to stand out from the crowd. Taking influences from their favourite 80s bands like The Fall and Pere Ubu they do have a distinct sound in today’s indie market. New single “Probate” is almost nine minutes in length which is fairly epic in single terms.

With a minute long instrumental introduction it initially feels like the opening to a concert which in itself is an achievement, they have managed to capture much of the live energy in their recording. They keep that energy going throughout the nine minutes, but unfortunately you can’t help but find your attention wavering at about 3 and a half minutes. Without the band to watch there in front of you it is just too long, particularly during the extended instrumental at the end.

That being said, The Others are a promising band. The other tracks on the single release, “Looking For A Product” and “It Doesn’t Matter To Me” are a more reasonable length of about 4 minutes and are much stronger with it. But while “Probate” would benefit from some editing that would be against what the band set out to achieve, and also might loose the live energy they have created on the track.