The New Up - Gold Album Review

Gold, the title track of The New Up's third mini-album entices you with a strong drum beat and dense guitar chords. Structurally, it gets straight to the point cutting away all the fat, and opens up proceedings in a more than acceptable way. The vocals are sultry and there is a general mysterious atmosphere.

Unfortunately, the rest of the album fails to match up to this. Just Because is a great moment, taking on an altogether more trippy tone, but not really adding much to proceedings. Essentially this CD shows how well The New Up can do the same thing over and over again, offering very little variation. Which is a shame; because you get the feeling they are capable of so much more. And at only 8 tracks long, that is unforgivable and not helped by the poor production; all of the instrumentation seems muffled, as if you're listening to it through a wall or with cotton wool in your ears.

If anything, Gold shows potential, rather than a fully-fledged great rock band. The New Up could give so much more, and we can only hope that, in time, they do.

Ben Walton