Cue the brass, Biffy Clyro are back in town with a new album and a slightly new direction. I say slightly only because they’ve been hinting at Simon’s lust for all things orchestral for a while now. “The Captain” is the third single off their fifth effort “Only Revolutions” and follows a similar trend set by the previous singles. Namely the inclusion of orchestral elements, you absolutely cannot miss the brass arrangements in “The Captain” they are as integral to the song as the guitars and drums are. The jutting and swaying play of the brass and guitars give the song a certain sea shanty like feel which only adds to the whole theatrical-ness of the song.
Lyrically Biffy Clyro were never anything to write home about and this is not proven wrong in “The Captain” (or in any of the previous single, lines like “I am a mountain” come to mind) but what they lack in lyrical endeavour they make up for in pure delivery of melody. And boy do they pack the melodies into this track, to the point where you don’t notice how cringe-worthy lines like “I’m not the son of god” and “I can’t climb up your ladder” actually are.
All the trademark Biffy Clyro turns in melody and tempo are here, and they certainly still do sound like Biffy Clyro. But I can’t help but feel like all this addition of orchestral instruments to songs to transform your music is a little artificial or maybe I just miss the Biffy Clyro of old. One thing’s for sure this new direction is winning over some new fans as is (sort of) shown by the #1 spot in last week’s Felix and probably an upcoming jump in record sales.
Lyrically Biffy Clyro were never anything to write home about and this is not proven wrong in “The Captain” (or in any of the previous single, lines like “I am a mountain” come to mind) but what they lack in lyrical endeavour they make up for in pure delivery of melody. And boy do they pack the melodies into this track, to the point where you don’t notice how cringe-worthy lines like “I’m not the son of god” and “I can’t climb up your ladder” actually are.
All the trademark Biffy Clyro turns in melody and tempo are here, and they certainly still do sound like Biffy Clyro. But I can’t help but feel like all this addition of orchestral instruments to songs to transform your music is a little artificial or maybe I just miss the Biffy Clyro of old. One thing’s for sure this new direction is winning over some new fans as is (sort of) shown by the #1 spot in last week’s Felix and probably an upcoming jump in record sales.
CHENG 'the gift' Lao
-3.5/5 (everyone is rocking the half points today, yo.)
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