Album: White Lies - 'To Lose My Life...'

An angry black man once said "Don't believe the hype!!" and I can tell you, as an 7 year old boy growing up on the mean streets of Sligo, NW Ireland, it's a message that has stayed with me ever since. And it is always around this time of year that I find myself faux-rapping (usually walking down the street, giving it the hand flicks etc) as I read pages and pages of hot tips for the coming twelve months.

It's always the same four or five bands mentioned everywhere, and this year has been no exception. The three shoe-ins for success this year are Florence & The Machine, Little Boots and White Lies, the West London-based trio this week release their debut album, To Lose My Life...
The album, ten tracks in all, is produced by Ed Buller and Max Dingel - the latter having previously worked with the Killers and Glasvegas, and it is the essential sound of both of these bands that greets you upon first listen.

Opening track Death, lead single To Lose My Life and the standout A Place To Hide owe perhaps more to the synth and bass driven melodies of The Killers and Glasvegas' sheer grandiose scale than to the more obvious comparison White Lies will draw - namely Joy Division, Human League, and on interestingly, Duran Duran.

With the amount of hype generated by the band (featuring highly in the BBC's Sound Of 2009 list) it's very easy to approach them with an agenda or a pre-concieved notion. Just looking around forums and blogs, people have seemed to have warmed to their more downward, darker, introspective sound - perhaps a reflection of the current mood the country is in - and yes, listening to To Lose My Life..., there isn't a lot of warm glowing sunshine to bask in.

However while it may not rival Minnie Riperton for sheer birds and fields, To Lose My Life... has a industrial romance to it that inspires, and intrigues. Echoes of Boy-era U2, and The Cure (particularly closer The Price Of Love) give it that universal appeal. The one thing that I do feel the album missing is depth, and near midway it begins to lose steam, retreading similar threads - from The Stars and Fairwell To The Fairground begin to sound less like vintage U2, and more like vintage Bravery.

On a whole, if we were living in happier times, I don't think this album would work, and I don't think this band would be quite so lauded. As it stands now, its a competent effort, with enough evidence to suggest that White Lies, after previous false starts, may at least be facing in the right direction, if not on the road to where they should be.

White Lies are touring the UK now - for dates, and to make friends with the band, go to www.myspace.com/whitelies

Download To Lose My Life... for £5 on 7digital here or buy it on CD from Amazon for around £8 here.