Tribes - Baby Review

Tribes with their brand of grunge meets Britpop seem to be ‘the next big next big thing’.

By Tom Daly / January 22, 2012

rating: 3

As the Camden indie rock crowd brings out next big thing after next big thing and fails time after time to bring anything of any real substance, Tribes with their brand of grunge meets Britpop seem to be the next big next big thing. Theyve appeared on countless lists, had a years worth of festival shows, support slots, and radio appearances. They come from Camden and list Nirvana and The Pixies as influences and seem to be cool by definition. On the release of their first album Baby, the question is asked: are they any good? After the Pixies soundalike opening track Whenever we come across the lead single, We Were Children, which sounds like Where is my Mind covered by Suede. Just the second track into the album and we see a pattern, Britpop meets Grunge, glam meets gore, quiet meets loud. The next two tracks, Corner of an English Field and Half Way Home meet the exact same formula as the first two- grunge guitars, Britpop vocals and choruses. The next half-interesting track is Sappho simply because it sounds like a Nirvana rip-off rather than a Pixies rip-off. Himalaya, however seems to be the first genuinely interesting track on the album since We Were Children. Something about it, be it the suddenly-energetic vocals or the layered guitars give Himalaya something clearly lacking from the rest of the album so far- an atmosphere. Nightdriving feels more alike to Himalaya than anything else so far but sticks to the grunge and choruses formula. As When My Day Comes and the Teenage Dirtbag inducing Walking in the Street come and go, I feel like there is less and less to say about Tribes. Until the penultimate track, Alone or With Friends starts and we hear for quite possibly the first time on the album something remarkably different with an acoustic guitar and some Oasisy echo effects on the vocals. Alone or With Friends also has quite a nice guitar solo, making it possibly my favourite track on the entire album. Finally, the albums closer which SHOULD, given the choruses and layered guitars which have graced Baby so far be an epic finale, instead sounds lame and like anything else from the album. They should have closed with one of the grander songs, maayve Himilaya or We Were Children. The so called grunge revival that Tribes seem to be at the forefront of is potentially a good thing for music, especially against the permabland backdrop that the British music industry seems to be in at the moment, but they are just too tame to do anything particularly spectacular. I just dont think that loud, intended-for-the-terraces choruses are grunge, and the combination, whilst sounding fresh at first quickly gets old and formulaic. Tribes could have been really great but instead fall at the first hurdle, with tame/lame vocals and uninspired guitar riffs. Tribes - Baby is available now.