Athlete - Twenty Four Hours Single Review

Athlete
"Twenty Four Hours"
Parlophone
Single Review

2005 has been a successful year for this Deptford quartet, with multiple festival appearances and a chart-topping album signalling their ascendancy into the major league of British music. Along with the likes of Keane, Embrace, Snow Patrol, and of course Coldplay, lighter-waving ballad rock has become inexplicably popular.

Joel Pott has the sort of distinctive singing style that you'll either love or hate, but it perfectly suits "Twenty Four Hours". Beginning in a tender fashion with a drumbeat that barely registers, he sweeps you along until the strong hook and glorious chorus. The beautiful melody is aided by the use of strings, and it all adds up to a tune that begs to be sung back by crowds of thousands. In a genre that is hardly noted for being exciting, it possesses enough to make it worth checking out.

Alex Lai