THERE comes a time in every indie band’s life when they become tired of trekking around the toilet venues and start to aim for the big league.
Having supported Coldplay at Wembley back in 2009 and headlined Wembley Arena two years later, White Lies are hardly in the two men and a dog category, but Big TV is quite clearly the sound of a band with its eye on the main prize rather than the runners-up medal.
Where previously the band had been grouped alongside the dour likes of Editors and Joy Division, Big TV’s pulsating mix of electronics and guitars is a different kettle of fish completely.
There Goes My Love Again – released as a single a week ago – has already been likened to “how A-ha might think they have always sounded”, which is an fitting description, though perhaps A-ha covered by The Killers might be even more so.
There’s more where that came from, too; the album is simply awash with big tunes which will sound marvellous on next summer’s festival stages and (hopefully) arena headline tour.
The brilliant title track, Mother Tongue, Getting Even, First Time Caller, Be Your Man, Tricky To Love, Goldmine… the raft of potential singles that run through Big TV like a particularly tasty piece of rock is every A&R man’s dream.
If they are marginally less effective as a ballad band, their stabs at what used to be called “a slowie” (Change, Heaven Wait) are to be applauded and certainly less funereal than many other indie bands’ attempts.
While all-out comparisons with Brandon Flowers and co are inevitable – the album is hewn from the same rock as 2006’s Hot Fuss – it matters little. Big TV is as enjoyable a slice of modern pop/rock as you are likely to hear all year.
Thirty three and a third: Record reviews by Andrew Greenhalgh 