Instinct

I really love this album, it's so fun, really sweet and anthematic which really hits my weak spot...
But it's a mess, even the best moments are messy but mostly the fantastic choruses carry it through.

Tomorrow is a really fantastic song, optimistic and fun and as bright and Firey as the cover. The chorus is obviously so fantastic t's a little watered down by getting lost in all the other fantastic choruses in this album, but that isn't really to the songs detriment, it's great for shuffle playlists (:/....) the synths in the chorus particularly though are so heavy it doesn't let much light in and can just feel like a wall of noise that could be stripped back.

Got to admit though that I really don't like The Drummer, unlike most of the rest of the album there aren't any melodies that can save this, it's boring and messy. The synths literly feel like someone burping into a vocoder and it's really jarring, but hey, that's just me.

In Our Eyes though is the band at their best, like their best stuff in the 2nd album, the synths are less present and it brings the cute perfect melodies through and it's just gorgeous, it's nothing new but it's genuinely lovely.

The Gentle Roar is cool, I don't really come back to it much, but it breaks up the anthematic moments which the album really benefits from, even if it can't resist coming back to it at the end, it's still lovely.

Mother Protect is fine, I wish it was later in album as I'll get to later but its way better balanced than a lot of the songs that are too wild and has some really cool unexpected moments. Same with Last Night this even borders on BORING but that's just in comparison to how wild the rest of this album is.

Somebody falls into the same trap as Tomorrow; another amazingly written song let down by over the top, drawing production.

But Love To The Test hits the exact same sweet point that In Our Eyes lands on. Its really nice to have big moments that aren't drowning, let's us focus on the best bits and that's Niki and The Doves ability to write amazing melodies.

But DJ Ease my mind falls back into it again... doesn't stop it from being enjoyable but hey... to save time the rest of this album falls into this trap from here. I wish tracks like Gentle Roar and mother Protect were later in the album to break up this chunk...

But overall I'm being really harsh, this is some amazing carly rae jepsen level songwriting, at times about nothing particularly interesting but it's gorgeous and I always come back to most of these songs. I just wish it was taken done a notch or two on the production. Their second album does this soooo much better and I hope we get a 3rd....

Tomorrow - 8/10
The Drummer - 3/10
In Our Eyes - 9/10
The Gentle Roar - 6/10
Mother Protect - 6/10
Last Night - 8/10
Somebody - 5/10
Love To The Test - 9/10
DJ Ease My Mind - 8.5/10
Winterheart - 10/10
The Fox - 7/10
Under The Bridges - 8.5/10

Vibe Check/Cohesion - 7

Overall - 72