Follow You Home (Single) - Embrace

Since the release of ‘Refugees’ Embrace have been gathering a significant head-of-steam in anticipation of their upcoming album Embrace (due out at the end of April). The band have got themselves booked for a number of summer festivals – including ‘V Festival’ and ‘T In The Park’ – in addition to their first UK tour in nearly eight years (I’m very excited to have a ticket to see them live in Bristol). They are set to make a big impression with their comeback, and their latest single ‘Follow You Home’ seems to have been written with chart success in mind.

In a contrast to the much darker sounding ‘Refugees’, ‘Follow You Home’ begins with a much livelier sound: a commanding drum beat, and a heavily guitar-driven melody. Then the layered lead vocals from both McNamara brothers come into play, and despite the mainstream aspirations of the song’s sound there is something inherently charming about Danny’s unmistakeable Northern accent breaking through.

The chorus is certainly one that was composed with stadium performances in mind, and while it is instantly catchy, it does start to lose a bit of the identity of being an Embrace song – this chorus sounds as though it could be coming from any number of mainstream artists. Fortunately the song has enough merits to counterbalance this: first of all the upbeat nature of the chorus is offset by the darker nature of the lyrics. The song is about the distraught (and obsessive) state of the narrator following a break-up, which certainly makes the title seem a lot more sinister than at first glance. The narrator seems to be seeking validation – “I’m not your stalker, it’s just my need / I said it to see it you’d follow me” – both from himself and his ex.

The song really gathers momentum during the middle-8 where the arrangements and the vocals take on a sense of urgency, and it really elevates the quality of the overall song leading into the third chorus. Then the song closes out in a similar manner to ‘Refugees’, with Danny completely taking over the lead vocals in more of a spoken word manner.

For me this song has improved with repeated listens, when I first heard the chorus I was afraid it sounded a little too generic – or anonymous – but the lyrics really allow the song to quell those early doubts. Also the second half of the song really ups the ante – I’m already looking forward to hearing it live.