The Beat Surrender

Brakes gathered in some fine reviews for their debut long player Give Blood on it’s release in July last year, at the time they seemed to be a little unlucky in their timing, overshadowed by some bigger releases they didn’t get the sales that it deserved.

The follow up The Beatific Visions has landed quickly on the heels of that one as they look to try and get a commercial footing with this their second effort. Again good reviews have been forthcoming, but again I have to question the timing. The Christmas market will see it swamped by bigger releases and press coverage will be minimal, so why not wait until the notoriously quiet post Christmas period to release this?

Either way though it’s here and it’s more than a worthy follow up. The only problem from my point of view is that it’s just short of half an hour in length, but put that aside and you get a fun, often punky in spirit, album that has some very good lyrics throughout it. Highlights for me are the title track and opener Hold Me In The River.