One of the reason I love television is that it introduces me to a ton of new music. Towards the end 2009 The CW’s ran a marathon of The Vampire Diaries, a show that I’d fallen behind on. I took two things away from the marathon, a renewed appreciation for the show and an awareness of the band Barcelona. Hailing from Seattle, Washington the group released their debut album Absolutes in 2009 on Universal Records. My thoughts on the album below.
Barcelona delivers one hell of a debut album with Absolutes, I was this close to including it in my music manifesto but ultimately decided that it would be more apt to give the album its own post. What makes Absolutes so good is the epic nature of Barcelona’s music. It’s no shocker that Diaries’ music supervisor Chris Mollere would use “Come Back When You Can,” arguably the catchiest song on the album and also its most grandiose. The song also framed his scene incredibly well, and offered a nice taste of what one can expect from Absolutes.
“Come Back When You Can” is reminesent of Kings of Leon and OneRepublic, two bands who have found mainstream success in the past couple years. It actually surprises me that I hadn’t heard of Barcelona before Vampire Diaries. Among their influences Barcelona accredits Coldplay and Death Cab for Cutie, both of which I can see in their music. “Get Up” and “Falling Out of Trees” offer shades of Death Cab’s music, while “Stars” and “Please Don’t Go” sound sonically closer to Coldplay.
Lyrically however Barcelona differentiates themselves from the rest of the pack. They have an honesty to their lyrics that is both striking and quaint at the same time. This is particularly evident on “The Takers,” the album’s strongest song. But also on “Faded,” a quiet and more introspective piece. Croons lead singer Brian Fennell “Discard hopeful display/Once it aroused the brave in us”
Something tells we’ll be hearing a lot more from Barcelona in 2010. I tend to think that there music will be used in many more television shows. And hopefully as was the case with The Fray, another band I could draw comparisons to, this will translate into radio play. Below I’ve included “Come Back When You Can,” hopefully getting the same taste of Barcelona that I did will encourage you to seek out Absolutes. It’s well worth the money!
[audio:come-back-when-you-can.mp3]
