Album Review: The Feeling - Twelve Stops and Home (4 /5)

The Feeling emerged early this year with hot buzz they would become one of the year’s major new UK bands. The buzz was right, as the group has released a handful of infectious pop/rock singles, each one more enjoyable than the last. Twelve Stops and Home is thoroughly enjoyable, despite its overly derivative nature. Each song produces the same nagging feeling: “doesn’t that sound a lot like…,” without always being able to fill in the “….” Indeed the band, who’s own Web site describes itself making “music for the masses” with “sunshine hooks and killer choruses that everyone can hum, from plumbers to professors,” has been compared to a host of influences, including Supertramp, 10cc, and Electric Light Orchestra.

Opening track “I Want You Now” is good, but second track and third single “Never Be Lonely” is the album’s highlight. It’s an epic summer pop single full of insistent synth staccato, sweet vocal delivery, and a perfect sing-along melody. Piano-driven “Fill My Little World” is a similarly upbeat pop track, just as enjoyable. “Love it When You Call” also drives home a fun retro 70’s rock vibe.

Slower songs are enjoyable too, like “Kettle’s On,” that adds classical flourishes between choruses, and “Sewn,” the Coldplay-ish band’s first single. Although these are followed by two weaker slow tracks, “Anyone” and “Strange,” the latter of which sounds like it could have come from Savage Garden.

Despite its big sound, which plays out in the retro pop and grand ballads, The Feeling can do quiet moments too, showcased best on “Rose,” a tender, piano-driven love song with interesting percussive moments.

Twelve Stops and Home refers to the 12 stops on London’s Tube between Leicester Square and Bounds Green, where the band’s lead singer, Dan Gillespie, grew up. Because of its obvious influences, the album’s sound has a sort of timeless quality that is very London. Save for bit of a sag in the middle, this is a strong album, particularly its ‘70s-influenced songs like “Never Be Lonely” and its tender ballads like “Sewn.” The trick will be pulling off a second album that retains the band’s sense of fun, melody, and balance of majesty and tenderness without being culled from the same influences as this collection.