Time for another debut album – it must be the season for them – and this one is from Glasgow band Battle For 2nd Place. Imaginatively called “First”, would there perhaps be more imagination in the music?
The answer to that is yes and no for this is a veritable curate’s egg of an album. There is much to enjoy in Orla Prendergast’s confident and endearing vocals and on some songs, such as “Faint”, “Hollow” and “Fair On Me”, the mark of a band with a sense of artistic adventure becomes visible. Then the whole house of cards is brought tumbling down by the sheer weight of dull pretension brought to the party by Dave Wason and his guitar as he attempts to sink as many of the songs as he can in power chords, clumsy solos and feedback. A man on a mission without a doubt.
There you go – yet another Glasgow band with potential dragged down by their guitarist. There must be something in the cheap lager…