Album · 2016
Big life
by The Rifles
Big life is an album by The Rifles, released in 2016, with 18 tracks.
- 18
- Tracks
- 60 min
- Runtime
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Album · 2016
by The Rifles
Big life is an album by The Rifles, released in 2016, with 18 tracks.
Not yet rated. Be the first.
18 tracks · 60 min
The real-life equivalent to a band dropping a double album is someone taking a road trip with a new flame or friend – it’s a chance to show all the qualities worth sharing. However, flaws can reveal themselves with each track (or stay in a cramped hotel room). Indie rock band The Rifles’ Big Life never stray far from this parallel, but its track-by-track showcase of what a guitar can do in a sequence of a pop progression manages to upstage those flaws over the course of 18 tracks. Barring some keyboard-dominated numbers during the album’s second half, the English quintet don’t miss a chance to deploy string scratches under lyrics, riffs between words and feedback, like on single ‘Wall Around Your Heart.’ On ‘Turtle Dove’ lead singer Joel Stoker croons “ain’t no need to hide”, and I half expected him to finish the phrase with “this infectious six-string display.” He doesn’t — but listeners still know where the best moments are less than a quarter of the way through the album. It’s a master-class display of guitar’s place in pop. A few tracks, including ‘Turtle Dove’, embody common critiques of the double album, however, mirroring arrangements before them, lacking the lyrics expected…
