Album Review

Burning Shapes – Silence Amplified / Someone Else’s Words

• 19th Mar 2012

I’ve not heard of Burning Shapes before, so I turn to the press release for guidance before listening to their new double A-side single.

It tells me that what I am in store for is ‘the story of one guy’s inability to tell his girlfriend he loves her’.

This basically boils down to a chorus that asserts itself, proclaiming that ‘Silence amplifies my love’.

Yeah, go on, let’s see how many non-committing men can worm their way out a sticky situation with the girlfriend when the inevitable conversation about ‘feelings’ arises, with that one then.

This is only really going to work in the context of powerballad schmaltz.

What we are really dealing with here is something that sounds a little bit like Feeder, a little bit like Nickelback, and a lot like pub-rock.

By comparison, the flipside, Someone Else’s Words, is slightly more appealing as it ambles along on a far gentler trajectory, down-tempo, vaguely folky and with an ambient harmonic vocal turn, yet it doesn’t do enough to mark this release out as either interesting or exciting to me.

Put quite simply, Burning Shapes aren’t my cup of tea.