Halcyon Days

WARNING: this is not an album for adults, unless they’re exceptionally young at heart. The debut from Sydney-via-Byron Bay youngsters, Glass Towers, does just as prescribed; Halcyon Days captures the adventures and mystery of youth.

The band started as a one-man show in 2008 in Ben Hannam’s bedroom. Now he feels like a young man on the precipice of adulthood. The songs tend to deal with this and Hannam nostalgically relives his fondest memories like feeling lust,  and longing for escape.

Tracks, “Jumanji”, Tonight” and “Gloom” have already been released on previous EPs. The first song was like the Last Dinosaurs with lots of jaunty goodness while “Tonight” was perhaps the foundation for this record.

Halcyon Days can get rather repetitive. The group have a long and varied list of musical influences but it seems like these are largely ignored. Instead, the band has got the pedal constantly floored to destination- energy and this enthusiasm can get rather tiresome.

The group also suffer from sounding like a rehash of numerous bands. “Castles” is like Kaiser Chief’s “Love’s Not A Competition (But I’m Winning)” with more vigorous drumming. The others sound like a marriage between The Cure and The Killers or a summery, Vampire Weekend cover; already heavily mined territory.

Halcyon Days does a good job of showing off the musical chops of the group’s members especially drummer, Daniel Muszynski and frontman, Hannam. But they perhaps need some more time to hone their writing craft.

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