Embrace (Album) - Embrace

Eight years is a very long time. Popular culture is an impatient medium, and so it is likely that a significant majority of people will have forgotten about Embrace, since the release of their 2006 album This New Day. I was a latecomer to the music of Embrace, and it seemed to me that I had arrived on the scene around a time when they truly had vanished without a trace (it was incredibly rare to find copies of their albums in music stores – especially Drawn From Memory and If You’ve Never Been). Nevertheless, this downtime allowed me to acquire copies of all five of their albums, and I eagerly awaited the release of their next album. This was around 2008, so I had a long wait ahead of me!

The band’s website was practically non-existant, the Twitter accounts of the band members never seemed to have any news where the band were, and any news articles floating around tended to be from 2006. The band had truly vanished, which is an impressive feat in the digital age of social media.

But then, out of nothing (!) news and rumours began to emerge, Danny McNamara stated in an interview that the band had not split up, but were “champing at the bit” to get back out there. He also mentioned that the reason they had been away for so long was because they wanted their next album to be the best it could be – the band’s best album since their 1998 debut The Good Will Out. Nevertheless, loyal and dedicated fans of the group would have to continue to be patient, now that a new album was confirmed, the wait seemed to get longer. People wanted a release date, an album title, the track listings, some new artwork, anything…

And when it finally came, fans of the band were elated; the new album would be called Embrace, it would be released on April 28^th, the band would be touring again following the release, and two singles were made available ahead of the album’s release. Patience is a virtue, and patience was rewarded!

So, onto the album itself.

The band promised that the new album would raw-er and darker than anything that had preceded it, and this becomes clear right from the start, as soon as the opening track ‘Protection’ begins. A bass-y electronic buzz underscores the track, and some urgent lead-guitar riffs cut right through it, before Danny’s vocals emerge – sounding more confident than ever. The track builds momentum nicely, before a commanding drum beat signals the arrival of the chorus, which is every bit as energised and anthemic as the band’s greatest tracks. It’s a strong way to kick things off, and the energy runs right into the next track: ‘In The End’ a song destined for stadiums and festivals. The guitars and drums are in a frantic race with one another right from the start, and a synthesiser carries the song into the stratosphere.

Up next is the first single ‘Refugees’ which I’ve had more time to process, having now heard it many times. It’s a song that has a definite staying power, as I actually like it even more than I did when I first heard it. Richard McNamara takes the lead vocals on this track, demonstrating a natural ability for singing in a higher register. The song perfectly showcases the band’s newfound energy and rekindled fire, a natural choice for the lead single: ‘Refugees’ gives a really strong sense of what kind of album to expect.

I was very excited to hear ‘I Run’ as Danny had posted on the group’s facebook page several months ago when he’d just written it, expressing his excitement about this new song. The song is less electronically charged than the majority of the album, and the musical arrangement is more straightforward, allowing the lyrics to shine through. The fact that there is another towering chorus should really go without saying at this point. It is definitely one of the tracks that will get stuck in your head, and is one of my favourites from the album. Second single ‘Follow You Home’ then marks the halfway point of the album with an exclamation point, a catchy tune with a pounding drum-beat offsetting the sinister lyrical content about someone stalking his ex-girlfriend online.

The tone then shifts dramatically, not just as far as the album is concerned, but from anything we’ve ever heard from Embrace up until now. ‘Quarters’ really catches the listener off-guard, a track that wouldn’t feel out of place in an eighties disco. I think it’s something I’m going to have to hear more before I decide whether I like it or not. ‘At Once’ then restores a sense of familiarity once again, before we get this album’s equivalent of ‘Yeah You’ in the form of ‘Self Attack Mechanism’ an unrelenting attack on the senses, a track that races along at break-neck speed from start to finish.

‘The Devil Looks After His Own’ continues along a similar path to that set by its predecessor, albeit with slightly less frenzied vocals. With the album drawing to a close the energy shows no signs of letting up, a fitting indication of the band’s desire to get themselves out there once again.

Embrace have often excelled when it comes to album closers, and ‘Thief On My Island’ doesn’t disappoint. As a change of pace from the majority of the album the track takes its time, slowly building and creating a strong dramatic atmosphere. The energy and sense of urgency that pulsated through the whole album is as palpable as ever. Dancing piano scales interspersed with colossal blasts of distortion close out the album in a major way – similar, but entirely distinct from the final moments of Out Of Nothing.

Something that I should emphasise is that, although a lot of the tracks follow a similar formula when it comes to building up a grand and anthemic chorus, the album as a whole never feels formulaic. Every song feels distinct and new, never feeling like a rehashing of older ideas. I guess that the band can really be taken at their word when they said they wanted this album to be the best that it could be.

Another admirable trait is the band’s ability to create accessible tunes that are laced with darker content, and with more of an edge than before. It is still unmistakeably Embrace, huge choruses and stadium-destined anthems, but below the surface there is a lot more at work, which I really think will allow the album to hold up as time passes.

Embrace is an album that delivers what the band promised, and it is gratifying to see that the band were willing to work hard at their craft – even though it meant disappearing for a while – rather than go through the motions and churn out content of a lower quality. It is an album that positively crackles with electricity and energy right the way through.

However, I do have one final thought: now that Embrace are back – re-energised and ready to be rediscovered (and re-embraced) – what will they do next? How will they follow up this album? Now that is something I’d be very interested to see.