First published by Midlands Rocks, www.midlandsrocks.co.uk March 2011
Diversity, innovation and individuality are qualities music lovers should embrace and celebrate. Even more so in the homogenised era of the the X Factor and a music industry that now, more than ever, looks for low-risk, safe options. Inevitably, the outcome being generic, next-big-thing clones manufactured with the same exacting precision and cold objectivity more usually applied to a CGI Hollywood blockbuster.
Thank your God, then, for Captain Horizon; idiosyncratic, eccentric and highly distinctive, the Brum-based quartet should be familiar, in name at least, to most of you, given their well-deserved and hard-earned reputation for dynamic live shows.
Live, they fit fairly comfortably into the pigeon hole ‘Alt.Rock’, which, of course, remains conveniently vague whilst simultaneously covering a multitude of sins. Red Hot Chilli Peppers, U2, Rage Against The Machine are obvious check-points. On disc, however, well, things just got a little more complex…
Subtleties and textures, buried under the sheer physical assault and dynamism of their live show, emerge here with surprising results. There is a definite indie quality to the material in several places; Most of Bring Back The Sun, especially during the intro vocal descant. Due, also, to Watson’s fret board excursions. Stop, at 3.22, also brings The Edge to mind with its chiming, less-is-more single-note pattern. Elsewhere, Graham Coxon and Johnny Marr seem reasonable reference points.
The effortlessly cerebral, and occasionally bespectacled, Watson is as far from your conventional guitar hero as you could imagine. Rather, he is an impressionist painter with a huge range of techniques always and only deployed in the service of the song. Taste, restraint and intelligence are his trademarks. When a conventional, power-chord assault is unleashed, choruses of ‘Anxiety Breaks Us All’ and ‘Stop’, to name just two, then the results are all the more effective for it. If Pissarro had ever joined a rock ‘n’ roll band, he’d sound like this.
The fact that the band manage to remain firmly in rock ‘n’ roll territory, rather than crossing the line into indie land, is mainly due to the decidedly impressive pipes of front man Steve ‘Whitty’ Whittington. This man’s larynx was clearly forged in the same foundry as another Black Country warbler, currently plying his trade with Joe Bonamassa and Jason Bonham…
Dripping masculinity, testosterone and gravel, the voice is a joy to hear. Power, range and flawless in pitch, ‘Whitty’ is an old-school rock singer and the balls he brings to Watson’s sensitive and empathetic soundscapes make for joyous and uplifting listening.
Given the band’s penchant for eschewing standard hard-rock time signatures, it will comes a no surprise to learn that the rhythm section, bassist, Alex Thomson, and skins man, James Merrix, are the equals of their band mates and constitute an outstanding rhythm section, probably displayed to best effect on Radiostasis, all slithering, syncopated undulations.
The breakdowns, time-changes and turn-the-beat-around-on-a-dime proclivities of the four tracks on the disc would represent an insurmountable obstacle to lesser musicians. The dynamic duo, on the other hand, dance around the songs with effortless grace and bring a lightness and deftness of touch that both exudes, and induces, a grinning joie de vivre.
The challenge for all bands in the recording studio is to capture the energy and excitement of their live show. Surprisingly, Watson, largely responsible for this self-produced effort, hasn’t so much done that (and that is absolutely no criticism), as shone light onto hitherto unsuspected virtues and qualities of this remarkable band (find out more here http://www.captainhorizon.co.uk/blog/ ). Clarity, sparkle, freshness and depth are the watchwords here.
The odd moment of lyrical cliché aside (‘cuts a like a knife’ at 2.08, Anxiety Breaks Us All), the disc is pretty much flawless. To sum up, a genuine pleasure that displays classy, inventive song writing and a commercial nous that, coupled with one of the best live shows you’ll ever see from an unsigned band, deserves to see Captain Horizon flying to the next level. Certainly, Anxiety Breaks Us All has hit-single written all over it and deserves to be blasted from car stereos all summer long. The big time beckons, lads. Just keep on truckin’.
Radiostasis will be released on April 15th at a special launch night at the HMV Institute, Birmingham.