The Departure 'Dirty Words' (Parlophone) Released 20/06/05

So it starts... The indie kids believing a renaissance of heart felt ‘real’ music is upon us are going to mightily disappointed. The signs were all there and it seems they’ve been ignored. With bands like The Departure, The Killers and The Bravery being lumped together on this side of the pond the music industry is yet again cloning and diluting the populist acts that do so well. 

Opening track ‘Just Like TV’ is indie stodge of the highest order with a guitar riff sounding like its been lifted from frankly god awful ‘The Music’. David Jones’ voice grates and reminds us why CD skip buttons were such a good idea. Things pick up briefly on the single ‘All Mapped Out’ with a bass line stolen straight from Duran Duran but unfortunately this doesn’t last. ‘Arms Around Me’ is so overblown it’s laughable. "Puts your arms around me and lets go out toooo-noit"  coos Jones and its safe to say he won’t be looking at many takers with annunciation like that.

A little credibility is restored albeit briefly with the single ‘Lump In My Throat’ on which the formula of heavily reverbed guitars, fast drumming and singer David’s whine actually sounds like a good idea. Not that good an idea but it gets the indie kids swinging their pants so at least that’s something. Herein lies the real menace every track is written from the same set of blueprints and ‘Dirty Words’ sounds like one really long song.

The only time they break away from this they sound like any other band doing big business at the minute. ‘Changing Pilots’ would be a half decent track if it hadn’t been robbed from the far superior Bravery album.

To be fair to them though they’ve been playing together barely over a year and ‘Be My Enemy’ towards the end of the album nearly holds this LP together. Come on, how many other bands were even signed after being together a year? it just seems a shame that they’ll almost certainly be dropped before they get the chance to make a decent record despite being signed to the ever patient Parlophone imprint.

'Dirty Words' ? There really isn’t enough of them to describe what a disappointment this LP is.