Album Review: Travis – LA Times
3 min read
Scottish rockers Travis have been on the scene for well over three decades at this point and show no signs of slowing down. Since their breakthrough success with The Man Who in the late 90s, featuring hits like Why Does It Always Rain On Me and Driftwood, they’ve had a bundle of heavy hitters across a gradually paced but incredibly strong discography. Now, four years on from their last release, 10 Songs, they’ve returned with LA Times.
The album begins with single Bus, a mid-paced acoustic rocker that harkens back to their early 2000s sound and features a wonderfully soft vocal performance from singer and guitarist Fran Healy. Raze the Bar continues the subtle melodies and swaying groove, but explodes into a crowd vocal chorus of ‘we are, we are, who we are, who we are’. Both uplifting and impactful, it still stands out as one of the early highlights on the album. Live It All Again brings the tempo down, melding upright bass, picked acoustic and choir-esc backing vocals to create a mournful and atmospheric listen. It’s a polar opposite compared with big single Gaslight, that bursts through the silence with its stabbed piano chords and heavy hitting drums.
Alive takes a folkier approach, post-chorus sections featuring solid kick drum stomps and acoustic guitar licks. It’s a track that would have sat nicely on their 2001 album The Invisible Band. Home and I Hope You Spontaneously Combust have throwback feels, sounding like 90s radio-friendly pop rock tune with carefree backing melodies and driving bass grooves. The former is the drive-time hit, whilst the latter is a quirky, Beck-esc tune that evidently doesn’t take itself too seriously. Naked In New York City is a heartfelt ballad, featuring little more than Fran’s voice, acoustic guitar, and upright bass. It drifts into the folkier and more upbeat The River, Fran showing the power in his voice. The final track, titled after its namesake, features not only a calmly rapped verses from Fran R.E.M. style, but a beautifully arranged backing beat that fades out slowly to end the album.
LA Times is another in a long line of great records that see Travis mix rock, folk, and alternative music into a coherent and entertaining collection of songs. It’s commercial enough to be accessible to anyone, but not in the sense that it is boring or average. Some of these tunes can easily be placed up with the band’s best songs, and there are no duds among the rest. Some, like the title track, even show that the band after all these years are still experimenting and up for taking risks, which for a band of nearly 30 years is not something to be brushed off lightly.
Writer and Musician, Ryan Bulbeck has been published with a number of online publications, and has worked with a myriad of great artists, both as a performer, and as a producer. His most recent band The 295 are still active, playing shows around the UK.
