We Were Promised Jetpacks – These Four Walls (Music Review)
By Past Contributor • Oct 22nd, 2009 • Category: Indie Rock, Reviews[Article by Stephen Cruze.]
We Were Promised Jetpacks
These Four Walls
Fat Cat
Rating: 1 out of 5
Another indie band from the UK with a sound that I’ve heard a million times recently. Not much new happening here I’m afraid. The songs aren’t bad, they’re simply not giving me anything I haven’t been given already.
We Were Promised Jetpacks are the racers in the middle of the pack. At the moment, with few exceptions it all seems to be happening on our side of the pond. Here in North America (Canada & The States) you can’t move sideways without hearing a great new band with a slightly new take on the pop-song format. Over in the UK, it sems almost impossible to hear something fresh.
Where are all the great UK bands? I’m not foolish enough to think that just because I haven’t heard them they don’t exist. I’m sure they do. But for whatever reason, they seem to be buried in the silt and sludge of a million other boring and mediocre bands. Throw We Were Promised Jetpacks into this category, I’m afraid.
Past Contributor is just that, a contributor who once contributed to ZapTown but no longer does. You can view a list of past contributors on the "Past Contributor" link at the top of the page.
Email this author | All posts by Past Contributor
I dunno, Stephen. I’m not sure this one rates a 1. I don’t think it rates any worse than a 3, and probably no higher than a 3.5 because there’s a lot of unmet potential here.
I saw Jetpacks live a few weeks ago & the thing that struck me most was their age. Take any two of the four members, add their ages together and I am STILL older. Considering they’re barely teenagers, performing their own rather well-developed (and toe-tapping, at times) compositions, you’re being just plain stubborn if you’re unwilling to acknowledge the sheer talent there. Live, they come off a bit like a Scottish Cursive. On record, though, some of that expressive passion is lost to some rather sludgy, by-the-numbers production. Maybe that’s what turned you off to the record. I dunno. I hope you haven’t written Jetpacks off entirely, though, because I think they’re only going to get better.
Also, I chatted with them in between sets, and they’re really, genuinely nice guys. They deserve better than a 1, don’t'cha think?