aaamusic | On 20, Nov 2011

Debut EP by Mancunians City Reign is a committment affair. They’ve worked on this for over three years,  opening their own record label to release it, and touring wherever they could to support it. Numbers for Street Names has undeniable classic rock aspirations. Even the cover screams New Year’s Day – you know, the man running from the cold kinda reminds you of that video, on a mountain of snow, with Bono looking disturbingly good. And so does the music. The range of influences is proudly displayed in the first track (and main single) Making Plans – starting with Joy Division, ending on Oasis with a touch of The National in between.  The way they play with these inspirations, although powerful and driven, is polished and professional, and of course, tends to the pop side of things. Out in the Cold confirms this by being a downright rock and roll track with a chorus so catchy it’ll be stuck in your head for quite some time. Ending with Anywhere, Anyway is a good way to shake things up; it’s built on a fierce strum of guitar aided by a timid baseline, with added wisdom coming from lines such as “They can never run you out of town, when you got no town”. It sounds as if all that effort and time spent on Numbers for Street Names was entirely worth it.

 

Chiara Amoretti