Faker - Be The Twilight

Thu 20th Dec, 2007 in Music Reviews

Faker
Be The Twilight
Virgin

Faker took an age and a half to release their debut album, Addicted Romantic. When it finally emerged, some five years after the band had released their initial EPs and nearly nine since their formation, it contained the best material that songwriter Nathan Hudson had stored up.

It proved to be quite the winner – Hudson had a natural affinity for writing pop songs that managed to combine both winsome words with big hooks, and alternative radio embraced the band. A mere two years later, Be The Twilight doesn’t come close to capturing the same magic as their debut, going for a very different feel altogether.

The sceptre of the Cure and XTC is readily apparent on numbers like Killer on the Loose, but the songs are very differently structured to Addicted Romantic. Once more, Hudson has gone through the band with a fine tooth comb, leaving the band down a guitarist in the process. The songs on Be the Twilight are somehow less energetic and immediate than on the band’s previous album and whilst still hooky lack that certain something that set their debut apart.