Space Elevator
s/t

A space elevator in itself is a fascinating concept, taking a supersonic elevator into a station in orbit – that is an interesting future concept. Space Elevator is also the name of an English rock band fronted by a duchess and they seem somewhat inspired by Doctor Who if you are looking at their graphical stuff. This is their first album, a self-titled one that is seeing the light of day in May. Cool artwork, cool name and considering that they are going on a shared headline tour with their space friends Cats in Space, an amazing band, based on that it would appear that they have much to offer.

Musically it is nothing new, kind of old-school melodic rock with catchy choruses and strong melodies. The production is impressive; they have great sound and good variation for their style. And they have a great vocalist with an excellent voice for the kind of music they are performing; they have much going for them on the production side of things. But while the production and performance is brilliant, the structure of the album feels like it is lacking somewhat – the songs come in a strange order making the album seem a little bit fragmented, like for example the second track We are the Losers it should really be an ending track either ending the album or the first part like the end of the first side on the vinyl edition.

If I only look at the songs I would say that this album is very good and should merit a high rating, but that is only the songs as standalone objects and I am after all reviewing a complete album as a whole, meaning the sum of its parts as it is put together. I mean, even a Skoda probably has some very good components but that doesn’t make it a good car and it is the same with this album. The album has some amazing components but the whole is flawed making it feel just above average in the end. They should have considered the order of songs more carefully (maybe they just put them in the order they were finished or something) and they should also have skipped one or two tracks for the benefit of the complete product.

There are some brilliant tracks on this album, We are the Losers is my favourite I think – but I also like Oils and Bubbles and the opening track Elevator very much. Still, I leave the album with a strange sensation that it could have been an outstanding album with small adjustments, like throwing away the ending track Move On and placing the remaining tracks in a more logical order. Still, we have what we have here and it is a solid album and one that leaves me with some high anticipation for an upcoming album, maybe the elevator takes them all the way up that time.

HHHHHHH