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••• More. Again. Forever •••

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Indie heroes Courteeners return with their long-awaited sixth studio album titled ‘More. Again. Forever.’

The process of ‘More. Again. Forever.‘ hasn’t been as straight forward for Courteeners, particularly with frontman Liam Fray who has explained that he went through self-doubt and writer’s block whilst producing the album. Fray confessed to dumping over an albums worth of tracks during the making and then saying, “It’s a miracle this album got made.“

Back in 2017 Liam spoke to NME, telling them that the new album was nearly finished and would be different and full of the ‘weirder’ tracks like ‘The 17th‘ and ‘Scratch Your Name Upon My Lips‘. Sticking to their word, ‘More. Again. Forever.‘ Has some very interesting tracks.

Courteeners always know how to boot the doors off with a big opener and ‘Heart Attack‘ gets the blood pumping from the off. A pounding, heavy stomper of a tune which is sure to be the opener on the ‘More. Again Forever.‘ tour.

Up next are all of the singles that have been released ahead of the album, these are also listed in order that they have been released in too, maybe to go with the flow of the trilogy videos in collaboration with author Emma Jane Unsworth.

The singles are ‘Heavy Jacket‘, a track that falls into the ‘weirder’ category, originally the tune was the first from the album to be performed live, ‘Heavy Jacket‘ initially received a mixed reception but soon established itself as a staple in Courteeners setlist and now ‘Heavy Jacket‘ can be classed as a live favourite. The sexy/sleazy title track ‘More. Again. Forever.’, again this is a weirder one, more narrated by Fray to some mega funky, almost disco tones. ‘Better Man‘, which follows the more conventional Courteeners formula, this is also the tune which has been used the most for the promotion of ‘More. Again. Forever.‘ Released just two days ago was the track that the fans have been crying out for, the beautifully tender and pure ‘Hanging Off Your Cloud‘. One thing Courteeners do brilliantly is produce a ballad that nearly brings you to tears and here it is, up there with the most heart-wrenching Courteeners tracks, as soon as it kicks off with the strings and the tinkling of the ivories it commands your full attention and you know that you’re in for an emotional rollercoaster of a ride. This is also the tune that is going to be many fan’s love song, a tune that people will propose to during their gigs, first dance to at weddings, tattoo the lyrics onto their bodies and also be the unlucky lot’s break-up song.

Back into the weirder tunes, ‘Previous Parties‘ follows on from ‘Hanging Off Your Cloud‘ and it does the perfect job to bring you back after the lows of the previous track. ‘Previous Parties‘ funny enough is a party tune, with an 80’s influence, the break is a particular highlight. The track also gives name checks to Cleopatra, H.S Thompson and Georgie Best. Sort of ‘De La Salle’ gone to the rave.

‘More. Again Forever.‘ Finishes off with a fun tune ‘Take It On The Chin‘ sandwiched between two more beautiful ballads, ‘One Day At A Time‘ and ‘Is Heaven Even Worth It?‘

‘One Day At A time‘ is a motivational ballad, which builds and builds into a track of hope and achievement, the tune also has my favourite lyrics from the album,
“Stop shaking your fist at the sky,
It’s only you that’s making you cry,
Start chasing the dreams you deny,
Take it slow one day at a time.“

Although ‘Take In On The Chin‘ is a fun tune the subject is a little darker and more about mental health.

Like I said about Courteeners knowing how to open an album the same has to be said about closing one too and ‘Is Heaven Even Worth It?‘ Is the worthy closer. Starting with the strings, this is the least sounding Courteeners track on the album but that said, it is also the one that stays with you long after the album has finished. The writing and delivery is similar to the new Noel Gallagher ballads I.e ‘The Dying of the Light‘ ‘Dead in the Water‘ and ‘Wandering Star‘. The lyrics again are top tier on this,

“And I tried my best,
Is heaven even worth it?
And we tried our best,
Is heaven even worth it?
D’ya know when you’ve given your all and still you fall,
Is heaven even worth it?“

One thing on this album is even the ballads aren’t fully stripped back to just an acoustic, that is a massive positive and makes the album feel a lot more complete, the flow is seamless and natural. Credit needs to be given Elina Lin who has joined Courteeners on keyboard duties, her subtle backing vocals on ‘Hanging Off Your Cloud‘, ‘One Day At A Time‘ and ‘Is Heaven Even Worth It?‘ Add that little extra emotional element to the tracks.

‘More. Again. forever‘ will be a massive album for Courteeners who have now started to headline major festivals and tour some of the countries arenas. To say frontman Liam Fray was struggling with writer’s block during the making, you would never know that by listening the calibre of the tunes provided on ‘More. Again. Forever.‘

(Review by – Marc Whiffen)

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‘More. Again. Forever.’ Is released this Friday (17th Jan) order here: https://amzn.to/2FOjzXq

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