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DAYLIGHT ROBBERY
Falling Back To Earth

Solar Flare (2014)
Rating: 5/10

This is the second studio album from UK rockers Daylight Robbery, following on from 2011’s Cross Your Heart. The Birmingham-based quintet offers up soaring vocal tones, interesting group harmonies and polished musicianship, but as is so often the case it’s a sound that leaves me rather cold.

Falling Back To Earth is the sort of opus that should appeal to a lot of people as it’s rather gentle on the ears; pop-edged and at times hinting at the majestic and progressive, but a touch lightweight for my liking. The main force within the band is vocalist Tony Nicholl, who also plays guitar alongside Mark Carleton, but for me his energetic and often soulful voice is wasted here because the music drifts along without any real punch.

Only a handful of tracks stand out, like ‘I’ll Be Seeing You Again’ with its infectious chorus, but it’s still a case of cheese-ridden melody. However, it’s not half as bad as the anthemic ‘Scream Out Loud’, which features some truly terrible lyrics and a neo-Gothic pomp. “Raise your hands, we will be heard” states Nicholl, but the guitars just seem lost in the mix of Sheena Shea (TNT, Magnum, Robert Plant) and Chris Miller’s drums are mere powder-puff taps as they play second fiddle to the whirring keyboards of David Billingham.

The overall result is a kind of dramatic yet rarely emphatic damp squib of an opus that trundles along in sickly fashion. The album only reaches some sort of potency with the edgier ‘Red Lights’ and ‘Samarah Never Sleeps’ with its darkly-tinged orchestration and half-hearted power prowess. But too many times I’m finding myself losing interest in what appears as a sub-standard Magnum-influenced brand of middle of the road plod rock; except without even a hint of plod!

And so, with its airy mix and all too delicate production, Daylight Robbery’s next step on the ladder is one riddled with flaws and all too timid execution. There are times I’m left aching for a steelier solo or a fist of fire to take this to the next level, but what I’m left with is a distinctly average album with all too few highs. “I wonder if you’ll sleep tonight” asks Nicholl, and after this I probably won’t… sorry.

Neil Arnold

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