Review by John Cooper
Listen Up Manchester rating 6/10
Manchester based duo Mark Vernon & Ben Mather better
known as Brown Brogues release “Born to Lose”, their debut album. After growing a good following with their
fast and furious live shows, I was intrigued to listen to the album to see how
it translates to record. I’m glad to say they haven’t tried to polish their
sound up (at all), and still deliver their own brand of scuzzy garage rock
guitar sound with a pumping rhythm throughout. Vocals are loud and distorted, sometimes
verging on punk and the whole album has a very lo-fi approach, almost sloppy in
parts – with the Brown Brogues however this is not a negative. I would however say
as an album it doesn’t quite work as well as it should with abrupt song endings
and in parts it being a bit too far on the lo-fi end making the vocals at times
too hard to decipher, but having said that there are some stand out tracks on the
album too. Our favourites being “Mike, I Love You”, “May I Walk With You” and “I
Drove For Miles Just To Hear About The Book That You’re Reading. All in all if you like a two-piece who can hit
it hard and create a hell of a racket then you’ll thoroughly enjoy the Brown
Brogues “Born to Lose” album, but to fully appreciate this band – go and see
them live!
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