Dave Simpson 

Two Door Cinema Club: Beacon – review

Two Door Cinema Club largely stick to the sound that made them huge on this second album, writes Dave Simpson
  
  


Two Door Cinema Club's boisterous gigs belie the shy, understated young men on stage. Similarly, and like 2010's successful debut, Tourist History, Beacon combines uplifting electro pop with introspective, melancholy undercurrents. The likes of Wake Up, a cocktail of Delphic/Bloc Party electronics and youthful energy, explode with such enthusiasm you can almost hear the sound of curtains being hurled apart. However, Alex Trimble's vocals and lyrics are more delicate, with their new songs particularly reflecting the loneliness of touring. "I'll be home next year," he promises on opener Next Year, while the lovely Settle finds him ruefully pondering that "This is not home". Next Year's fleeting Beach Boys/Beatles harmonies aside, there aren't too many departures from what made them successful: radio-friendly songs with intricate little catchy bits which may find new homes as advertising jingles. A path they haven't explored is the ethereal frailty Trimble brought to Underworld's Olympic opening ceremony tune Caliban's Dream, but Trimble's contention that Beacon "takes us one step closer to the band we've dreamed of becoming" suggests a work in progress.

 

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