Britpop always seems to fill in its own gaps. As bands shoot to the top of charts, there are several others that keenly borrow sounds, as the fervor of being the next big thing in British rock is well-documented. In this case, somewhere between Elbow, Starsailor, and Coldplay lies C/O/R/D, a four-piece from Norwich, UK.
The band, while perhaps not as gripping as their influences, at least furthers the standard of dense, piano-driven anthems and suffices the smaller audiences that didn’t latch onto their more popular counterparts.
Their debut album, Other People’s Lives Are Not As Perfect As They Seem, is a collection of reverb-heavy, ascending ballads of the late metrosexual age. Their first single, "Winter" is the prototype of the band, a mid-tempo, five o’ clock shadow piano swing laced with falsetto and a high whine. "Sea of Trouble" is similar, with lavish orchestral backing, and both have a radio-ready vibe. "Go Either Way" and "Eyes" are grungier, with sandpaper guitars and rollercoaster vocals that lift the songs by their bootstraps.
If the latest Muse album powered past you and you’re killing time until the next Elbow release, these guys may do the trick. There is enough on the album to keep you busy, like the Floydian riff on "Already Lost". Other People’s Lives… is a positive start for the guys with a Youtube clip of their reaction to making the Top 40.
