BAHNHOF REVERSE ALBUM STRANGE EARS, NAZ RELEASE: OCTOBER 1, 2007 REVIEW: NOVEMBER 21, 2007

Another new band for you - Bahnhof. The four-piece, made up of Janus Jauch, Jesper Hother, Ulf Benzon Soll and Anders Urbak, hail from Denmark, and produce an interestingly epic style of rock music, strangely reminiscent of Coldplay, but with slightly more of an electronic leaning.

This is their release, "Reverse". The album starts with "Call the Police", a bit of a slow opener, until it blasts into action through a wall of guitars, becoming a quite nice indie style rock number. Bahnhof seem to have an inclination towards the anthemic rock style, evident on a number of tracks here, including "Reverse", which continues in a similar vein, but unfortunately lacks any of the spark shown in the first number. The track is quite lethargic, don't get me wrong, it meanders along quite nicely, but ultimately doesn't really go anywhere.

"A Brighter Day" employs some nice effects; utilising again electronic sounds, combined with some nice guitar effects to create some interesting soundscapes. "Ma Cite, La Cite" is an interesting little number too - it most convincingly mixes up the usage of electronics and guitars, all within the structure of a new wave-like track. It is a welcome addition too, as it breaks up a run of quite similar sounding tracks.

This seems to be one of the sticking points of the album; it is generally quite "nice", but has nothing really memorable, nothing that sticks in your head. Interestingly enough on this point, the single release "Speed", passed me by with very little of a lasting impression, certainly not something you want to say about what is potentially your best and most commercial stand-out track. "Tanktop Girl" also is particularly unspectacular for me, it just seems to go on and on, and even the band seem not to know what to do with it, judging by the tiring old trick of simply continuing until the track fades out.

"Sweet Catastrophe" is the closer, and possibly the nicest fusion of electronic and traditional instruments, with an electronic clicky rhythm that is perfectly complemented by some lamenting vocals and a sorrowful piano, the drums finally emerge to give weight to the sparse track, with those guitars coming in again to make the sound all the more epic; the nicest use of all the elements in this set.

An interesting album overall, with some nice tunes. A little too reliant on the barrage wall-of-sound guitar techniques, and a few too many slow numbers for my liking, but a confident approach is shown overall. Definitely a band for the future, and with a couple more tricks in their armoury, and less reliance on their old ones, they could really start to go places.

MIKE WHYTE