Album Review: Travis – Everything At Once
2 min read
Scottish quartet Travis released Good Feeling, their first studio album, in 1997. Now, almost twenty years later they are on to album number eight. Everything At Once is comprised of songs that are everything Travis are at once: jangly, yet melancholic tunes that never stray too far from their time-honored, vanilla pop rock. But then I suppose they have no reason to mess with a formula that has propelled them this far already. There is sometimes a certain serenity to be found in music that is unchallenging and uncomplicated, and that comfort can be found in Travis.
With half of its songs being less than three minutes long, it is the melody-driven chorus’ that act as the foundations for the albums successes. Take 3 Miles High as an example; though it is one of the shortest, and most monotonous songs it is guided into your memory through its buoyant, slow-grooving chorus and harmonies. The lyrical exploration displayed in this song is also interesting. Travis draw attention to the detachment our current society has from the real world, being more consumed with staying “three miles high”, or rather “preening for the screen like a Kardashian”, as is said on the similarly themed Paralysed.
There are no real flaws to detail on Everything At Once. Animals flutters from steady, understated verses to its percussively rich, layered chorus. The droning melody that vocalist Fran Healy wraps around the archetypal post-Britpop sounding Radio Song is fluid, and impossible not to tap your foot to, albeit underwhelming lyrics like “it’s not cool to be proud/But it’s alright to get lo-oooo-ooud”. All things considered, Travis have stayed true to themselves and their sound with this album. They have put together ten tracks, which, though far from innovative, reach all expectations and make for a pleasurable listen.
