The Beat Surrender

Welsh rockers (well almost) The Automatic have released a follow up album to one of the great success stories of 2006. Debut album Not Accepted Anywhere went double gold on release .Since then they have had a small change in line up with the departure of Alex Pennie in October of last year. The album was already underway at that time so some of the credit should go to him, however with the arrival of Paul Mullen the line up seems quite settled.

Initially I had thought that this change may have had more impact, couldn’t imagine them without the slightly manic Pennie. His antics on stage, climbing and jumping off the tallest of amp stacks, the strange screeching noise he made and his overall stage presence did seem a lot to lose. However after seeing them perform much of this album at The Cockpit a little while back and spending a long time taking in this album I think Mullen adds to the maturity of the sound brilliantly. There is little change in the three way vocals (minus the high pitched screeching) and while the band still make use of synthesizers it doesn’t seem to be the main thrust of the sound anymore which for me is a good thing. Synthesizers should for me be part of the sound not the lead.

The intro on the opening track Responsible Citizen is brilliant, love the lyrics “sick and tired of being told what to drink and how much love the idea of every drop going to my head” (felt like that many a time in my distant youth). Current single release Steve Mc Queen is easily the best pop track on the album, getting great airplay and deserves to be a massive hit, its not gimmicky but does have all you need for the charts, good subject matter, strong vocals, great lyrics and well performed/played.

Next track Accessories, great lyrics again, strong vocal and for once I actually liked the synth!. Magazine is very similar to the last track, perhaps a little more danceable but still a very catchy number. This Ship stood out immediately, it was for me one of the stronger new tracks when I saw them play recently, good strong repetitive chorus. I wasn’t as keen on In The Mountain, while easy to listen to not the strongest of tracks but perfectly passable as an album track.

Title track This Is A Fix sees the band swap instruments Rob Hawkins takes over synthesizer, vocals are Rob, James and Paul. When live they need a replacement bassist, at The Cockpit this was Tom Stephens from Viva Machine (the bands are regular touring partners). Things slow down a little for Make The Mistakes which I felt could have gone down another notch to make it stand out even more.

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