Album Review

The Tricks – Safari Inn

• 9th Jun 2014

Safari Inn is the excellent debut album from London based power pop quartet The Tricks. The Hertfordshire boys have been gigging hard over the past few years, building up a loyal following, and this eagerly awaited debut release has been three years in the making. The recording process kicked off in a DIY recording space in Hackney, before the band – brothers Joel Hodge (lead vocals/ bass) and Ash Hodge (drums) and guitarists John Bisset and Eliot Crabtree – headed for Unison Music Studios in Los Angeles with producer Bruce Witkin (Iggy Pop, Adam Ant) to finish the process.

The album’s eleven melodic tracks are powerful and energetic, typically uptempo and built around fast drums and strong bass lines with plenty of guitar and stadium style chantalong choruses. It’s a fairly simple formula, rock meets pop, but The Tricks do it well. And the lyrical quality is higher than that of many young bands. Their tales of twenty something life are authentic and well put together.

The band’s recent double AA single features two of the best tracks on the album: On Trial, a solid track with deeper vocals that really work well and Gilgamesh, all shimmering guitars and with fast vocal delivery. Eleanore also stands out, a slower song with a curious start-stop approach that somehow works, and then building to a big finish.

Not Too Young is also an excellent fast paced track, a wall of sound created by the guitars and rhythm section as the vocals cut through strongly. 49 Mercury with its repeated changes of pace and massive sing along chorus is sure to be a live favourite. And Not Too Young’s frenetic ending is incredibly powerful. There are memorable instrumental moments on the album too: the bass line of Dead Of Night, the massive guitar riff that anchors Kill It In The Night and Remember Me’s fine guitar duel

Safari Inn, named for the LA hotel where the band stayed, is a very good debut album from a talented young band. The approach is straightforward but the passion and the energy with which they deliver every song is notable. And it explains exactly why The Tricks are so highly regarded as a live act. This may not be an album that is wildly innovative but it is very well put together and bright, summery sound is so infectious. Expect to hear a lot more of The Tricks.

Venue: Safari Inn
Support Band: Unison Music Group