If you've spent enough time going to gigs in Cardiff you'll have inevitably stumbled across The Broadcasts. In only the last few months they've supported the likes of October Drift, The People The Poet and more, and if you were lucky enough to catch them, you'll know their first album could be a force to be reckoned with.
Their self-titled debut opens with the energetic and catchy blues rock of Down The Line and The Future. Both songs get the blood pumping before the album takes a breather on Western Lands; the first 3 songs on the album demonstrating The Broadcasts ability to write songs at any pace not only with a common sound but with an infectious one too. The simple but interesting style to their music will have you singing along by the second or third listen.
The fourth song on the LP - 'This Is Life' - is the lead single of the album and it carries a more country feel and demonstrates further the bands ability to write an infectious and yet a musically sound song. With the kind of chorus' that you would happily shout along to throughout the album, almost any song could have taken the lead single slot.
However The Broadcasts are not a one dimensional band and are not just about those sing a long catchy tunes. In 'The Road Goes On', 'What It Meant To Me' and the closing song 'What We've Become', the band shows a more delicate and polished touch to their music. 'What We've Become', in particular, shows a more sombre sound to the band - a sound you here in glimpses throughout the rest of the album - and is really developed in the closing song. It's by no means a stretch to call the closing to the album an epic, with delicate piano parts building into an anthemic chorus it brings the bands sounds together and ties up the album brilliantly.
An exciting and well-rounded debut from the Cardiff band; catchy, thoughtful and epic all at once. (8.5/10)
- Luke
You can catch The Broadcasts at their album release show at Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff on 17th June
