White Lies are a band that have been as much slated as praised, with a formula for music that never really takes songs beyond the idea of a ‘dark indie anthem’.
They have, however, somehow managed to keep afloat at a time where all the kids are dropping guitars and picking up decks. Big TV is their 3rd studio album and the band have decided to create a concept album which tells a story all born from the title track. It is the story of a couple moving from the country to the big city, focusing on their shifting relationship.
‘Big Tv’ is no big step forward, greeting listeners with Harry’s haunting vocals and a the typical crash of cinematic synths. It’s as White Lies as a song could get, which isn’t really a bad thing, and probably the safest way to open up a new album.
Following up with ‘There Goes Our Love Again’, the band have seemingly not changed the working formula of ‘Bigger Than Us’ from second album Rituals. As far as a step further into the narrative of Big TV goes, you’d have to put a lot of thought in to tie the first two songs together.
‘First Time Caller’, is a solid piece of indie pop and is about as far as you are going to get from the White Lies norm. Offering up a healthy serving of synths, as per, but the guitar work steals the show and brings it to a heavy climatic end.
‘Change’, by far the slowest track on the record, throws you into a slow, piano-led, ethereal soundscape and encapsulates the idea of the narrative present in the album. Lyrics like “I’m going to miss the way I kissed you / but I’ll be brave if you’ll be brave”, showcase the couple’s struggle in their new surroundings.
Big TV is a brilliant piece of dark indie pop but it never really takes the band anywhere new, and tracks can sometimes struggle to fully leave the ground. Fans of White Lies will undoubtedly fall in love with the 12 tracks on offer here, but the cynics will say there is nothing here that you don’t know already.
If you fancy listening to a young couple struggling in a city, you might consider watching 500 Days of Summer with a blindfold on.
Could do better but could do a lot worse, a steady 5/10 for Big TV:
Big TV is out on August 12th on Fiction Records.
