Four
One Direction
(Columbia/Syco)
Three stars
With One Direction's constant touring one wonders how they found the time to record their new release, Four, between all those stadium dates.
Then again, if you watched the 2013 documentary This Is Us, you will understand the five lads are not simply pretty faces with capable voices – the key to their appeal and longevity is a no-fuss attitude to work. And the same approach can be increasingly found across their albums.
Four is another collection of slick pop-rock that succeeds in sounding relatively organic. The drums pound, the acoustic guitars ring and nearly every track has a skyscraper of a chorus that will lodge in your brain by the second listen.
In short, Four is meant to be played live and the UAE faithful will have plenty of new songs to belt out when the boys touch down in Dubai in April next year. Here is a track-by-track breakdown.
Steal My Girl
A domestic pop song. There should be a law against creating a song so infuriatingly catchy. It begins with Billy Joel-esque piano intro before the stadium-sized beats and synths kick in. To prove once again the boys are super-wholesome, Zayn Malik sings about the bliss of chilling with his girl’s family: “Her mum calls me love, her dad calls me son, all right!”
Ready to Run
The boys are no trailblazers. Instead of pushing boundaries as former boy band N Sync did with their last two albums, One Direction are all about refining existing ideas. The guitar intro here should have Aloe Blacc and Aviici consulting their lawyers as it sounds quite similar to their 2013 music charts hit Wake Me Up. However, instead of a dance beat crashing through, chiming guitars in the style of U2 lead the boys into another fist- pumping chorus.
Where Do Broken Hearts Go
Sadly, despite the title, the boys don’t go all The Smiths on us. This one is for fans of Niall Horan, who is sometimes called the band’s weakest link. That’s unfair – the welcome scratch in his voice gives him some character and gives this track some solidity when it comes close to melting into another pool of sugary melodies.
18
A winner. Instead of pummelling the listener into submission with cloying hooks, this acoustic guitar-led track about young love is allowed to build gradually. It sounds like a track for a singer/songwriter instead of a boy band. Then again it was co-written by Ed Sheeran.
Girl Almighty
Girl Almighty joins Best Song Ever in their canon of quirky pop songs. There is a welcome looseness here with swirling, almost Celtic, piano lines.
Fools Gold
Come on, you must have had the (horrifying) thought that 1D took on The Stone Roses, didn’t you? Don’t worry. That funk-rock classic remains safe but there is a lot going on for this one. Horran delivers a sweet falsetto hook here and there is a new hint of broodiness, too. Expect the Sevens Stadium stage to be moodily lit when the boys deliver it.
Night Changes
The album’s second single and easily one of the album’s worst tracks. It is hard to imagine that this insipid ballad took 10 people to write. They should have just given it to Gary Barlow. As it stands, it makes even Westlife sound interesting.
No Control
If this had a few darting synth lines it would have been a killer new-wave track. Propelled by strutting riffs, No Control builds to a whirlwind of a chorus reminiscent of The Killers' Mr Brightside.
Fireproof
This is probably what a 1D campfire singalong would sound like. The most low-key of the boys, Louis Tomlinson, surely would have been concerned about singing banal couplets such as “Someday you are going to see the things that I see, you’re gonna want the air that I breathe”.
Spaces
This rock ballad is probably the part of the live show where the boys will sit down and try to take emotional stock among the screeching fans. Cue some blue lights and abstract images as they sing “the spaces between us, hold all our secrets/leaving us speechless”.
Stockholm Syndrome
Back to more upbeat fair with this synth-pop offering. Musically, the jittery riff here recalls the early sounds of The Police. The abduction-themed lyrics seemed interesting until you realise the boys are talking about being “tied down” by love.
Clouds
Four ends solidly with a track sounding more like rock band than boy band. Spidery guitar riffs crawl about and some terse drums build to another satisfying chorus.
sasaeed@thenational.ae
