After five years of bedding themselves into the mainstay of the Scottish live music scene, Figure 5, are set to spread their blend of original psychedelic pop on the rest of the world with Bonfire, their exciting debut album which signals a more mature sound from the Glasgow band.
Opener ‘Secrets & Lies’ is like a quirky Scottish spaghetti western soundtrack and sets the tone for what is overall an enjoyable album. The band are big on retro sounds but they have stamped their own character on each track to bring it bang into this century.
They are well honed in writing anthemic catchy choruses such as the “Gie’s a break, I’m only young” ‘Part of The Problem’, the foot tapping Never Believe and the sea-shanty-esque ‘Rock Of Gibraltar’, all falling into this category. ‘Don’t Lock Me Out’ is chugging King Creosote meets Gunfight At The O.K Corral, meanwhile ‘Barrett’ has the same pop sound which made fellow Glasgow band The Fratellis rise to fame.
The only disappointment came with weak finale ‘Outside’. It’s a change of pace but with a chunky back catalogue of cracking tunes such as ‘Nitty Gritty,’, perhaps one of the older Figure 5 classics would have been a more fitting send-off for this class act.
Bonfire