It seems The Faim sprung out of nowhere back in the middle of the last decade. Playing festivals all over the world, like Reading & Leeds, Lollapalooza, etc with their gleaming bright take on pop-rock anthems. Now, several years on and with their first album already under their belt; the next big step for the band is where to go from there to make their name a household name. Getting in various different producers to cement themselves in the scene, it’s clear they’re taking on this mission in strides. Unfortunately, it’s not a complete success.

Minimalistic synth beats accompany singer Josh Raven on opener ‘madly, badly, fixed’, creating your standard arena pop-rock, and you can almost imagine the curtains descend as the shimmering, bright guitars kick in. Now, in theory this would be fantastic, but the songs seem to ring hollowly, derivative of their peers in 5 Seconds of Summer and similar acts.  

This is mostly fixed in the following song, Raven’s voice giving off a similar sound to Caleb Followill of Kings of Leon. ‘The Hills’ sounds like it should have been the opening track to the album, with a refined, fresh chorus that will no doubt be a sing along for the thousands watching. The bounciness and melody of the song brings you back to a simpler time.

At the album’s best, they sound sincere about what they’re singing, like ‘Life In a Cinema’ continuing on the trend as the aforementioned track about going back to the good old days. However at its worst, in ‘The Alchemist’, the performances seem incredibly phoned in, and it truly shows in its lyrics, desperately trying to fit in the song’s title at any means possible. It’s a balancing act throughout the album, and sometimes it works, sometimes it fails.

It’s towards the tail-end of the album, their musical direction takes a completely different direction. This is no more present than it is in ‘Me Because of You’ which could have easily been released under The 1975‘s name. The move is completely unexpected following on from their 5 Seconds of Summer styled pop-rock, almost as if they’d recorded a shorter album over The 1975’s self-titled release.

At the core of Talk Talk (BMG), there’s the potential for a solid arena pop album. However, the band aren’t truly able to deviate their sound from their clear role models across the board. In songs like ‘Life is A Cinema’ and ‘The Hills’ you can see what could be the next big band performing to the masses, but it’s seemingly overshadowed by the band wearing their influences on their sleeves. 

Once this hurdle is crossed, there’s an incredible potential for The Faim.

Buy the album here: https://thefaim.lnk.to/TalkTalkID

6 / 10

CHARLIE HILL