Trophy Eyes release their third album the worldly superior ‘The American Dream’. First track ‘Autumn’ is stitched together like a life quilt with a cocktail of primary Punk-Pop colours. It’s not a firework opening but there’s enough to make you hit repeat half a dozen times. Next up is ‘Something Bigger Than This’ which continues the real life through their eyes theme which is both refreshing and genuinely interesting as Trophy Eyes have avoided the faux emotion that blights so many of their fellow bands. The sing-along choir chorus adds enough commercialism to distract the masses from the songs desperate message. ‘Friday Forever’ clicks with White Lies sensibilities as the vocals and music rise to a crescendo.‘More Like You’ suffers from the dreaded “wohooo, wohooo” Punk-Pop filler and even the pained vocals can’t stop the cut drifting harmlessly away from the beach of originality. Dark order is beautifully restored on the haunting ‘A Cotton Candy Sky’ while lead single ‘You Can Count On Me’ has the coming of age summer festival chorus even if it’s not meant to be. The ‘“Some of my friends sell drugs but I just sell sad songs” is destined to become the anthem of 2018, it’s a winner. A ballad-ish ‘Tip Toe’ is followed by the Killers-esque ‘Lavender Boy’ which is armed with another gold-plated chorus. Final track ‘I Can Feel It Calling’ corrals all the Trophy Eyes musical influences and the end result is, like most of this impressive album, stunning.
TROPHY EYES
THE AMERICAN DREAM
Hopeless Records.
8/10