Miles Kane - Don't Forget Who You Are

  by Harry Sherriff

published: 13 / 6 / 2013

---

Review

Miles Kane delivers the goods with his long awaited sophomore effort. The riffs in ‘Taking Over’ is a great way to open an album and it makes me think the former Rascals frontman has been away for far too long, which is a big compliment considering his debut album ‘Colour of the Trap’ only came out in 2011 and between that he’s released an EP and toured considerably. For this album the Squirrel from the Wirral smartly acquired the songwriting skills of such talent as Paul Weller, XTC’s Andy Partridge, Ian Broudie who also produced the album and Guy Chambers, most famous for his work with Robbie Williams. Chambers for my money helped co-write the best song on the album, the Beatles-esque ballad ‘Out Of Control’. Miles in interviews has said he had to whittle down thirty songs, which isn’t uncommon but I just wonder if there was another strong Chambers written track he has left off for fear of coming across too poppy and mainstream. A small criticism of it is Kane doesn’t seem to mind the odd dodgy lyric slipping through, “I like your style/You make me smile” from the title track being just one of many bum lines throughout. Then again you think back to some of the shockingly twee lyrics the Beatles got away with. Morrissey, Miles Kane is not. Also late on in the album there is a need for something else. A more varied song that never comes. There are a couple of slower tracks on the album but nothing that shows Miles doing anything out of his comfort zone, although ‘Fire in My Heart’ comes close. Across the two albums he has released now as a solo artist, I think this is a valid criticism. The positives though seriously weigh out the minor criticisms. 'Don’t Forget You Are' besides a couple of duff songs is a strong pop album. Kane really has a habit of constructing melodies that stick in your head. Miles Kane as an artist is on a perpetual ascension. He’s surrounding himself with talented people. You can tell he loves every second of his career and he conveys a constant need to improve. I find it completely endearing. I just hope his 'Sgt. Pepper' isn’t too far away.

Track Listing:-

1 Taking Over
2 Don't Forget Who You Are
3 Better Than That
4 Out of Control
5 Bombshells
6 Tonight
7 What Condition am I In?
8 Fire in My Heart
9 You're Gonna Get It
10 Give Up
11 Darkness in Our Hearts

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/mileskanemusi
https://twitter.com/mileskanemusic
http://www.last.fm/music/Miles+Kane
http://www.songkick.com/artists/307654
https://www.youtube.com/user/MilesKane

Label Links:-

http://www.columbia.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/ColumbiaRecor
https://twitter.com/ColumbiaUK
https://www.youtube.com/user/icolumbia