Surrey alternative rock band You Me At Six are set to release their new album Night People on Friday (6th January). Having announced another UK tour for April recently, the lads are truly going places once again having formed back in 2004. First up is the title track Night People and as fans would know by now, it’s one hell of a catchy track. The song has just about got everything you’d expect from a ‘pop-rock’ track. Lead singer Josh Franceschi uses his pitch perfect vocals to really capture the imagination of the audience. The lyric ‘It’s what you want (it’s), It’s what you need’ gets repeated a fair bit but I think this is what makes the track so catchy so great at the same time.
Next up is Plus One which doesn’t take long before you hear guitarists Max Heyler and Chris Miller really come in to their element with some awesome riffs. Once again Josh’s vocals is complimented by the brilliant backing singer Matt Barnes who also plays bass guitar. Despite this being once again pop rock, it certainly has more of a rock element to it rather than pop. And despite it being fairly short at 2 minutes 35 seconds, You Me At Six fans can be assured it’s a banger. The next song on the album is Heavy Soul and drummer Dan Flint can be heard straight away like he can throughout the album. Josh’s vocals is tested further with this song with this song obviously meaning a lot to him. Just after 2 minutes and the song starts to get slower but I really think it adds to the authenticity of the lyrics that gets repeated ‘What are you waiting for?’ and ‘I’ve got a feeling’ when talking about a ‘heavy soul’. Take On The World is then followed which starts of beautifully and reminds me a lot of Crash. There’s something about Josh’s vocals that almost brings a tear to your eye, as the beat starts to kick in towards the 3 minute mark with some great backing vocals from Flint.
The fifth song on the album is titled Brand New and I guess in one way it reflects You Me At Six themselves as they try out a almost new style of music. The catchy song can really get you into a good mood as it exactly what the listener needs following the much sadder song before. The song is all about feeling like yourself and that’s exactly what it achieves. Next up is Swear which almost straight away has a Loverboy feel to it which is what I’m sure fans adore about You Me At Six. It sounds like there is a bit more anger to this song though as Helyer and Miller really gave their all on guitar. Make Your Move is another solid addition to the album and really has a anthem feel to it. The song would sound great live as fans could just singalong to the catchy chorus. Josh’s voice also sees a more darker tone to it, maybe to reflect a more angry side to the song. The album’s eighth song Can’t Hold Back uses a bit more electronic sound to start it off and some almost indie rock riffs to the song. I think fans would enjoy listening to this song as it’s a little bit different to what they expect from You Me At Six however if you done the same style all the time, you’d be boring! The lyrics ‘Nobody wants to be alone’ also really reflects what the song is about and potentially could been someone on the band has felt a sense of loneliness in recent times.
The penultimate song titled Spell It Out starts off very sinister almost with the a more darker tone to Josh’s voice once again. With the song the second longest on the album, it allows for it to build up with a more slower start.It takes 2 and a half minutes before the song really kicks in with Flint proving once again why is one of the UK’s best drummers. Night People ends with track Give which is a perfect way to end an album as it has a mixture of up beat and almost sadness to it. Once again You Me At Six have proved why they are up there with the very best and this album will only cement their name.
Rating: 9/10 – You Me At Six once again prove why they are one of the best bands in the UK right now.
Favourite song: Take On The World – The song reminded me of Crash which is my all time favourite song from the band.