Spring
King’s
debut album, Tell Me If You Like To,
came in at #6 on my list in 2016. This sophomore effort impressively maintains
the high standards set by that record, and occasionally surpasses them. A Better Life suffers only because it
came second, and perhaps is not different enough from their very strong debut. The
template’s still high-octane garage rock, and A Better Life does feel like a natural continuation of Tell Me If You Like To, but getting that
different enough/similar enough balance right always makes that second album hard…
Taken in isolation, there’s a huge amount to love on album 2. Following a
little jazzy intro, first track proper ‘Animal’ rockets along very nicely thank
you, as does ‘The Hum’ (a joy). ‘No More’ hits all the right shouty peaks too. And
there are some deviations from the
template: ‘Echo Chamber’ feels like (recent era) Kasabian, and ‘Us vs Them’ has a 90s indie-pop vibe (like an angry Pulp or something). As so often seems
to be the case for bands after the release of their second album, my sense for Spring King is that this is make or
break time: album 2 is strong, and has some seeds of evolution, but ultimately
feels like a fairly safe follow up. Evolve further with album 3 and I might be
listening to album 8 many years from now; more of the same and I’ll probably
have had my fill. For now, though, A
Better Life is well worth your time.
sample track: Animal