Simple Minds - Walk Between Worlds

Simple Minds
Walk Between Worlds
2018
Spotify

Simple Minds will likely always be known for their biggest hit "Don't You (Forget About Me)". We've all heard it a million times at least and since then the band have been trying to reconcile the excesses of their past and being a band going forward. Their last album from 2014 failed to impress nearly anyone writing of the band as more style than substance. This album however while still almost wholly anthemic feels like it has more soul and more touchstones for the listener to hand on to. This record is also one of their most concise at only 42 minutes, cutting out all the usual fat and meandering that has plagued them for so many years. Don't get to excited though they still have tracks that go well over five minutes but it doesn't feel as unnecessary as it usually does, yet they still can't get out of their own way at times and let some things hang around for far too long. "Barrowland Star" at times feels a bit over blown and wrought with emotion. There is so much pinning in these vocals at times it can be a bit clawing, and the sheer focus on stadium ready tracks is a bit clunky. It's when they repeat the chorus over and over with the same guitar or synth riff that really becomes trying, if you are out of ideas for the track just move on to the next don't subject the listener to your obsession with a line of music. By the end of the album it feels like they have repeated themselves so many times that you can't even begin to get the actual point of the song or what the message they are trying to get across.

TO further this live stadium vibe they include a live track at the end which feels and sounds dated as hell. This song in particular repeats the title "Dirty Old Town" so many fucking times it makes you want to pull your hair out. The thing about this really stadium focused anthemic stuff is it has to have something to cut through it, something to give you a little break and a reset. Every track on this record follows the same pattern and by the time your are three or four in you've already heard it all. It's not like the lyrics or the production are really keeping your attention so instead you are left with this music that sounds like you should really be enjoying it, but it's to transparent, it's too on the nose. You want to be overwhelmed by their sea of sound but you don't want to drown in it. Simple Minds manage to drown their listeners while only going ankle deep, it's a sad state of affairs.

5.0 pit pf 10