Bands’ debut albums rarely feel as effortlessly confident as 86TVs’ self-titled debut. The four-piece, comprised of ex-The Maccabees members Hugo and Felix White, their brother Will and drummer Jamie Morrison (Stereophonics, The Noisettes), have come up with a first effort that palpably exudes experience and songwriting ambition, occasionally to a fault.
‘86TVs’ is a rich meal. Despite the time taken by the band’s core to release new music (they’ve been casually writing together for over five years), this everything-and-the-kitchen-sink collection feels eager to make up for lost time. In the process, the album’s focus sometimes wavers. Soaring dream pop (‘Dreaming’), spritely noughties-style indie (‘New Used Car’) and ornate art rock (‘Worn Out Buildings’) all feature across the course of this sweeping 45 minutes. Many of the digressions are compelling, however, the frequent changes in approach mean that its creators’ personality isn’t always easy to grasp.
This mercurial quality is a result of several straightforward rock tracks that are noticeably weaker than the album’s finest moments. ‘Spinning World’ is built on prosaic chord progressions and lacks structural rigour, while the driving ‘Tambourine’ is all loud, scratchy guitars but not much in the way of memorable hooks or melodies. Given that the album already has an issue with maintaining its musical focus, these tracks further obfuscate the route through the album’s lengthy runtime.
‘86TVs’ kicks up several gears with a host of emotionally resonant mini-epics. Like on the latter albums as The Maccabees, 86TVs have a knack for constructing tracks that start off as embers before gradually swelling to become infernos. ‘Komorebi’ is a beautiful track, utilising gentle brushed drums and sincere lyrical sentiments (“Loved you through thick and thin / Lost you the further we went”) to firmly tug at the heartstrings. ‘Need You Bad’ pulls a similar, though less fiercely impactful, trick, one that’s all about the delicate journey rather than the guitar solo-led payoff.
These impactful emotions are bolstered by 86TVs’ knack for lyrical sentiments that feel ultra-contemporary in their combination of fragility and optimism. ‘Worn Out Buildings’ features warm, compassionate lyrics about how “You don’t have to be yourself right now / Just give it time, you’ll work that out”, while ‘‘New Used Car’s chorus sentiment of “Nothing lasts forever, got to live for today” is practically metamodern in its attempt to find meaning in the meaningless.
These are the moments where 86TVs find a clear emotional throughline. Other strong tracks lock into this stirring mode, like ‘Worn Out Buildings’ (which recalls Arcade Fire at their most energised) and the euphoric, club-channelling ‘Higher Love’, helping to gloss over some of the less inspired tracks. There’s myriad evidence contained within this confident debut that 86TVs can go on to do great things, as long as future efforts utilise a bit more strict editing nous in order for its creators’ soulful identities to fully bleed through the compositional fabric.
Details
- Release date: August 2, 2024
- Record label: Parlophone