Album Review: Walk the Moon – Talking Is Hard
2 min read
We first heard of Walk the Moon back in 2010 after hearing their hit single Anna Sun, the infectious track received rave reviews and was named song of the summer by MTV and Seventeen Mag. Two years later the group released their self-titled debut major label album which peaked at number 10 on the Billboard alternative chart. The album was a success and showed promising signs from the American indie rockers which ultimately lead to a lot of pressure being put on their follow up record Talking Is Hard. Now whether or not the pressure of trying to match the quality and success of their previous album had an effect on them I’m not sure but unfortunately this album is a step backwards rather than forwards.
30 seconds into the opening track Different Colours you instantly start to question if this album is going to live up to the groups highly successful debut Walk the Moon and sadly the answer to that question is no. Unlike earlier tracks such as Anna Sun and Tightrope there’s a somewhat cheesy vibe to Different Colours and it rubs off on majority of the rest of the album.
The albums first single Shut Up and Dance is one of the better tracks, the songs catchy chorus and overall refreshing atmosphere is quite enjoyable, its unfortunate that most of the album doesn’t have the same effect. Up 2 U sounds like its going to brake into some type of lame boy band ballad thankfully though it takes an unexpected turn into a garage rock riff however; its not enough to save this otherwise bland track.
Whilst majority of Talking Is Hard features borderline cheesy songs there are some rare gems on here such as Avalanche and Come Under the Covers. These two tracks along with Shut Up and Dance are really the only songs worth listening to, the rest of the album fails to make an impression and just descends into the background.
This album lacks the excitement and energy that we heard on Walk the Moon, there are those few tracks that grab your attention and for a moment it feels like there are some promising signs however; these moments are to rare and short lived. Unfortunately this highly anticipated album doesn’t hit its full potential, maybe next time.
