Stylus Records
As a music fan and writer, I’m often faced with the unfortunate scenario of “so many artists, so little time.”
With so much music out there, it’s hard to sit down and take an in-depth listen to everything that gets released, and unfortunately, sometimes you may miss out on some quality sounds.
It’s this idea that leads me to my experience with Stereophonics, a four-piece alternative rock group that I had heard of, but never really explored.
Formed in 1992, the group recently released their eighth studio album Graffiti on the Train.
As I wasn’t incredibly familiar with the Welsh rockers before listening to the album, I’m quite glad I had the chance to sit down with this one. With striking composition, instrumentation and feeling, it’s a very powerful, profound listen from start to finish.
The 10 tracks on Graffiti do an excellent job of presenting a variety of moods within the listening experience.
More traditional, stomping, Britpop influence is apparent on tracks like “We Share the Same Sun” and “Catacomb,” while the band opts to take a more blues-influenced direction on “Been Caught Cheating.”
Texture is also a huge compositional area in which the band likes to explore and challenge themselves, with track “Violins and Tambourines” being a perfect example.
Starting out as a mid-tempo piece with vocals, guitar, and percussion, string sections and keyboards begin to slowly build in the background before the song morphs into a a double-time, grandiose rocker.
The other area in which Graffiti truly shines is within its own instrumentation, with Stereophonics applying orchestral elements in many other places around the record.
Within each song, their presence adds a real sense of musical proficiency, as it takes some degree of musical finesse to arrange orchestral pieces to slide in alongside rock music, let alone work well.
It’s an excellent pairing that stands out on tracks such as the album’s title track and “Roll the Dice.”
Whether through its alternative rock leanings or dashes of orchestral brilliance, Graffiti on the Train is a record with a special soul, having moments bordering on both extremes of power and passion, and quiet and tame.
