Album Review: The Feeling - Together We Were Made

The Feeling - Together We Were Made

Since I heard Sewn on the radio for the very first time, I have been a huge fan of The Feeling. I bought tickets to their show at the Bodega Social in Nottingham on the back of one listen to that single, and I've subsequently seen them live on several occasions including an excellent Pyramid Stage slot at Glastonbury.

I'll be honest: a new Feeling album is one of my most anticipated musical releases. There are few bands that I enjoy listening to more as I find their brand of 70s influenced power pop utterly captivating. It's therefore with a heavy heart that I have to report that I was really, really disappointed with Together We Are Made.

Much of this, their third album, sounds unmistakeably like The Feeling. And, there's no doubt that vocalist Dan Gillespie-Sells has the knack of writing a great pop song. The problem with Together We Were Made, though, is that it is dreadfully one-paced. Gone are the glorious uptempo anthems like Fill My Little World, Join With Us, I Thought It Was Over, Never Be Lonely and the majestic Love It When You Call and, in their place, we get a series of plodding mid-paced pop songs.

Don't get me wrong - they're not terrible - but as my wife commented when listening: "it's all a bit vanilla, isn't it?" There are some decent songs here - singles Set My World On Fire and Leave Me Out Of It are catchy enough, but the whole record is just a huge letdown. I'd be satisfied with a few of these songs amongst that brilliant, energetic pop that The Feeling do better than anyone, but in the absence of that the album is a disappointing, dreary collection of songs with no real impact.

I hate it when a band you love makes an album you don't really like. It's sounding better with every listen, but Together You Were Made is, at least this far, a real disappointment. Come on boys - you can do miles better than this.