Howling Bells: Radio Wars

A modern crisp rock band with distinctive and attractive female vocals was a winning formula in the late 70’s for Blondie. Can a similar formula work again in the late noughties for Australian rockers Howling Bells? Howling Bells are betting that it will. But I’m not so sure, while this is a pleasant enough album, there’s something missing. Perhaps Dr Evil has stolen their Mojo.

Hang on a minute, just got to track 7, “Golden Web” and I though I got a bit of a spark, could their Mojo just be resonating at a different frequency that I was unable to tune in to at first? Either that or the second half of the album is better than the first.

Postscript:
Just has a second listen to the whole album, and I’m happy to report that, as with all things, no supernatural explanation is required, the second half is a little better.

I might have equally applied the same criticism of uninspiring fairly bland Indie Rock to the recent albums from the likes of the Killers or Snow Patrol, both of whom Howling Bells have supported on their recent tours, and they both seem to be doing very nicely thank you very much. So maybe a Mojo is not mandatory.

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