End Of Fashion - She'sLove

Wed 22nd Mar, 2006 in Music Reviews

2005 was definitely a good year for End Of Fashion. Their album debuted at number 3 in the Australian album charts, they won two ARIA awards for Best Video and Breakthrough Artist, they performed well in Triple J’s Hottest 100, and capped off a solid year of touring with a spot on the 2006 Big Day Out. They’re one of Australia’s best known, and most popular, new bands and now their new single She’s Love is about to hit the charts.

It’s a good solid rock song. Not too uptempo, nothing too visceral. It’s a nice song, about love, the kind of song you could bring home to meet your parents. Whether that’s what rock and roll is really about is a debate for another time, but the fact is this song has a few nice hooks, some distortion, and a break in the middle before coming back for a sing-along wrapup. Justin Burford is in his usual fine form, crooning his way through this rocked up ballad. So why does She’s Love feel like End Of Fashion are treading familiar ground?

Because they are. For those who’ve known End Of for longer than five minutes, She’s Love is the fourth song from the bands spectacular debut EP, Rough Diamonds. Which is exactly what was wrong with the album. They remixed and remastered every single one of their older tracks for the album, as if the older fans, who’d stuck by them from the start, wouldn’t mind buying an album with only half a dozen songs they didn’t already have. Releasing one of those older tracks as a single feels like the final kick in the teeth for those of us who were supporting the band when they were playing to empty venues on the Gold Coast.

She’s Love might find some new fans out there, and continue the bands record long streak of constant radio airplay, but older fans will probably begin to lose interest.