Fallen Sun
Situations Change EP
Fallen Sun have admirably survived a couple of line-up changes and emerged stronger than ever with plenty of gigs under their belt and new material in the offing. The main benefit of their manpower refreshment, though, is latest release ‘Situations Change’.
Opening like Therapy’s ‘Six Mile Water’, the title track is a real rocker, punctuated by a brooding guitar lick and presented with gutsy vocals. The chorus is hooky and the verse is melodic and on top of all that, a great punchy instrumental section slips in at the back end of the song.
The formula is basically the same for ‘Open Your Eyes’, starting with a gentle guitar part and working towards a big chorus. However, the build-up to the chorus is nothing short of inventive and plenty of pace changes mix things up. After this, ‘Love Remain’ has a plethora of delayed guitars creating waves of ambient sound during the verse, sounding half way between their rock sound and Chris Isaak, in a good way.
With the drums starting things off like a fast version of ‘Get Yer Rocks Off’, the penultimate track on the EP, ‘Thoughts’, starts out louder than the previous songs and then makes its stuttered way into the verse. This song suffers a little from a chord progression that lacks the creativity of the other tracks but on balance is a decent enough effort.
Finishing off the EP is an acoustic recording of ‘Beautiful’, which is a showcase for some Crowded House style vocal combinations that reach impressive highs in the chorus.
Andy Barwell’s preference for a clean guitar sound gives Fallen Sun something a bit different in the sound department. The vocals have always been a strong point for this band and there’s no change in that respect on this record, which has a typically great performance from Dean Tricker as well as commendable backing vocals, especially on ‘Open Your Eyes’.
Fallen Sun are no longer an indie-rock pub band, having discovered how to get their creative juices going. This is their best recording to date.
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