Barely Hi-Fi

Reviewed: "Walking All Day" & "Brother" MP3's

I tried reviewing a bunch of Barely Hi-Fi MP3's, but they ended up just being snippets. I think this was a server problem, because when I tried downloading some of them again, I managed to get some full songs - well, I got "Walking All Day" on my second attempt and "Brother" on my fourth.

First impressions? Barely Hi-Fi sound like a band who either own a recording studio or have enough money to spend as long as they want in one.And, as the CD is two months from being completed, and I haven't got the time to sit here downloading the same songs over and over, Ill focus solely on the two tracks that I managed to download. Which is a shame, because the minute or so that I managed to download of "Shaky" sounded pretty good...

This quality of the recordings is evident straight away, even after being compressed into MP3 format and thrown onto the Internet.

Both tracks are very different, so lets look at "Walking All Day" first. The track is a radio-friendly rock anthem, with ultra-loud drums (which is always a very good thing) and guitars that really kick in when needed, like in the mini-solo that crops up towards the end of the track.

Its hard to find to find an instant comparison, but its somewhere between a non-heavy Metallica and more traditional Brit-rock. There's a grungey Seattle-ness to the song, but this is heavily diluted thanks to the production, which takes away any edge that the fuzzed guitars might have had - which is great if you actually want the commercial Nickleback sound, but not so good if you want the raw in-your-face sound.

"Brother" is much more original track, and my favourite of the two. It borders on sounding like Noddy Holder singing for a heavier version of Blur, with a bit of Brian May widdling chucked in for good measure. It has an excellent main rock-riff & rough vocals mixed with quirky backing vocals and sing along bits. If you're going to download a Barely Hi-Fi song, make it this one - highly recommended.

Overall? Excellent songs, but it might be quicker waiting for the CD to come out than to try downloading them...

The Best Bit: "Brother"
The Worst Bit: Downloading problems - stopped me reviewing more songs.

Website: www.barelyhifi.co.uk

Reviewed by: SD