London Grammar have been straddling the worlds of conventional pop and indie-leaning pop since day one. They could remind you of Adele on one song and Zero 7 on the next. Until now, the trio’s musical trend was progressing towards the \u201cindie\u201d side of things with each release, especially on the Americana-flavored Californian Soil, <\/i>yielding some of the group\u2019s most compelling and complex music. <\/p>\n
The Greatest Love<\/i> wholly contradicts this trend, with its easily consumable simple pop-leaning songs. However, this is not to say that the music is not solid.<\/p>\n
\u201cHouse\u201d is a glossy pop number with soft beats and a gentle acoustic guitar hook that will make your head bop without really calling for your attention. Same goes with \u201cSanta Fe\u201d with its beachy vibe and muted reggae beats that give the impression that this track has been commissioned by the good folks at a generic beer company to sell their product: not a vibe that\u2019s typically associated with a London Grammar song.<\/p>\n
The singles don\u2019t do much justice to the album, especially \u201cFakest Bitch\u201d and \u201cKind Of Man.\u201d \u201cFakest Bitch,\u201d again with relaxing guitars in the background, sounds a trifle anodyne, even with a chorus like \u201cpeople don\u2019t change, they just stay the same,\u201d which could have been more effective with some drama in the music. \u201cKind Of Man,\u201d with its chilled-out beats and guitars suffers from blandness as well, with front-woman Hanna Reid\u2019s vocals lacking any punch.<\/p>\n
The album truly delivers on tracks where London Grammar do what they are best at doing: soaring, cinematic songs that allow Reid\u2019s striking vocals to be boundless and majestic. For example, \u201cThe Greatest Love,\u201d the album\u2019s final number and arguably its best, has a slow bluesy vibe with tension building up throughout, until it explodes in the end with effusive strings and powerful vocals that sing the equally powerful words, \u201cI need you because you are a woman \/ And I\u2019ll hate you because you are a woman \/ And I\u2019ll love you because you are a woman\u201d in calm catharsis. <\/p>\n
\u201cLA\u201d is a slick pop number like most of the others on the album, but has an intensity in the music\u2014as well as in Reid\u2019s vocals\u2014that makes it a standout. \u201cOrdinary Life\u201d is another slick pop song and has the characteristics of London Grammar\u2019s collaborations with other artists, as an all-around beautifully produced and executed track. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou And I\u201d captures London Grammar’s essence\u2014the group\u2019s epic sound\u2014wonderfully well, with its luscious vocal harmony, pretty pianos, and magnificent choir vocals. \u201cRescue\u201d is another gem, because of something else that the band does well\u2014incorporating gorgeous piano melodies.<\/p>\n
London Grammar\u2019s music is most potent when it is dramatic, when it has stark nuances\u2026 when it has power! The previous two records, Truth Is A Beautiful Thing<\/i> and Californian Soil<\/i>, were so great because they had these ingredients as pillars. While The Greatest Love<\/i> is plenty enjoyable, it seems like there isn\u2019t as much magic on this record as on the group\u2019s previous two ones. What this album lacks is tension and mystery, as the band appears to be a bit too settled and comfortable with itself\u2026 and this is where The Greatest Love<\/i>\u2014an otherwise darn fine album\u2014falls short.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":35136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[11017],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-47014","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-london-grammar","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=47014"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=47014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}