Hepburns - How the Fallen Are Mighty

  by Tommy Gunnarsson

published: 14 / 8 / 2010

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Review

Matt Jones’ musical vehicle the Hepburns are not to be trusted. Last time I heard them, on 'The Last Thing I Saw Before I Said Goodbye' (released in 2004), the songs were heavily influenced by bossanova, but from what I have heard they have not stuck with that recipe on the following two albums, and they are not returning to it this time around either. On 'How the Fallen Are Mighty', their fifth ful length album, they have opted for a more straight-forward indie pop sound, and I must say that I am quite impressed, even though it has its ups and downs. The first real song (the first track is a short instrumental), 'Sad, Free, Excited and Empty' is pure pop bliss, with a great, groovy bass line catching your attention immediately. The next song, 'Nobody Loves Me' (sounds like a Morrissey song, doesn’t it?), instantly makes me think of the Brilliant Corners, which is not a bad thing at all. The song that is followed by the weird 'One More Notch on the Bedpost', a tuba-heavy oompa-oompa track that probably would be a smash hit in Germany. Overall, the lyrics are really good, and according to the lyric booklet, they were written by a friend of Jones. Most of the time, they are really funny, with many memorable lines and titles, like 'Ken Park: The Man, the Film' (which, surprise surprise, is about a man called Ken Park, but if you Google his name, all you get is information about the film), 'Save Your Stories for the Police, Maurice' and 'Writer Friend' (which is about a friend that claims that he’s a writer, but he’s not very good). All in all, this is an album that will probably grow more on me, but I don’t think I ever will get used to the horrible saxophone solo in “Save your stories...”. Oh my...

Track Listing:-

1 Vanishing Act
2 Sad, Free, Excited and Empty
3 Nobody Loves Me
4 One More Notch on the Bedpost
5 Writer Friend
6 Delores
7 The Help
8 Save Your Stories for the Police, Maurice
9 Vermouth
10 Persona Non Grata (In Margam Place)
11 Growing Old
12 Man Missing