Rooted in the eighties yet possessed of the sort of class that renders them utterly timeless, Home Counties rockers Space Elevator have really come up with something special with this eponymous debut effort.
Originally released last year but weighed down by lineup change baggage which prevented the album from getting the promotional push it truly deserved, the band has sensibly decided to reactivate the record in 2016 in the hope that it will reach bigger audiences – and of course we here at Sentinel Daily are happy to help such a laudable aim.
Put simply, if you’re a fan of sleek, impeccably executed rock music, shot through with the sort of pop sensibility that means every song featured here has weapons grade earworm capability, then there’s nothing on Space Elevator that won’t appeal. Sure, readers at the heavier end of the Sentinel Daily readership spectrum might struggle with the West-End fripperies of Oils and Bubbles or the tear jerking balladry of closing track Move On, but even they won’t be able to resist the sheer AOR nirvana of standout track The Loneliness of Love or the powerpop delights of Little White Lies; And in real terms is hard to see why anyone who doesn’t solely exist on a diet of Dark Funeral and Cradle of Filth won’t lap up tracks like the superb We Can Fly or Elevator.
The core of operations here is centred around guitarist David Young and the vocal acrobatics of the enigmatically-monickered The Duchess. Young is an assured six stringer, (he’s a veteran of the West End production of Queen musical We Will Rock You, so you know he knows his way around an axe) who puts in a man of the match performance on his solo on Move On, but the undoubted star of the show here is The Duchess; There is nothing she can’t sing, but her versatility is a boon here rather than the weakness it might possibly have been as the band flits between styles and genres with each track. At times she’s a dead ringer for Madonna, at others echoes of Texas chanteuse Sharleen Spiteri or T’Pau’s Carol Decker shimmer into the ears, but throughout her powerful, character-packed vocals will raise the hairs on the back of the neck and she holds the whole shebang together with a bravura performance that surely deserves the widest stage possible on which to strut in the future.
Very few bands appear with a debut so fully-formed and self assured as Space Elevator – and those that do usually manage some form of world domination further down the line… so make sure you get in on this ride on the bottom floor – this lift looks like it might get pretty crowded!
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