There Will Be Fireworks

I thought from the start of 2009 that no album could top 'In The Cold Wind We Smile' by The Xcerts or 'Everybody Loves A Scene' by New Rhodes as my record of the year.

Then one day I decided to Google this local band There Will be Fireworks that a bunch of people had told me were really good. I had ordered their album before I'd even got to the bottom of their MySpace player.

There's something of The Twilight Sad about the way they combine and contrast tender vocals and pretty, quiet bits with these big, heart-stopping loud bits that feel like they fill a room to the point where it could almost burst. But I like what There Will Be Fireworks do better. They're gentler, mostly. Perhaps more obvious too. And more spritely and uplifting. There's more of them, playing more instruments all at the same time, too.

Their album is a masterpiece. Yes, I said masterpiece.

I could mention as well how it was recorded in some wee place near Glasgow, is such a low-key release it doesn't have a barcode, and the PayPal receipt when you order it from their site is under the singer's name. But the album doesn't need any sympathy votes. They're not just amazing in the context they inhabit. They're amazing in ANY context.

There Will Be Fireworks on MySpace
There Will Be Fireworks on iTunes