Tracked at Visconti Studios by renowned producer Chris Porter (David Bowie, Elton John), chased by wolves is the brand-new studio album from indie-rockers Flight Brigade. The band, members of which have a background in film and TV composition, have forged an impressive reputation that has seen them take to innumerable festival stages (including Glastonbury, Bestival and Beautiful Days) with their mix of the symphonic and the soaring and chased by wolves is liable to be the album that brings them to ever-wider attention. As a band with whom I hadn’t been previously familiar, Flight Brigade are somewhat outside my comfort zone, but their deft weaving of influences and strong hooks had me quickly disarmed, whilst the expansive nature of the album’s latter half more than repays the time spent exploring the album.
Following the twenty-second intro provided by monsoon, the album opens with the synth-heavy sounds of heartbreaker. It’s interesting to note that Flight Brigade are operating in very much the field to which Bring Me The Horizon have been heading ever since that’s the spirit and, whilst the guitars may not be as heavy, the layered vocals, pop-indebted hooks and sterling production could be played alongside anything from amo with nary an eyebrow raised. The pace quickens with the title track, a grittier piece that sounds like Duran Duran being covered by the late, lamented Seafood. It builds an impressive head of steam before it’s done and, underneath the swooning vocals, there’s a strong core that offers greater resistance than might be expected. It leads neatly to the stabbing tinderbox, a strikingly modern take on indie that nods to the likes of Radiohead and Arctic Monkeys as the band cleave a touch to close to the familiar. Better is the shiny, muse-esque Fury Road, which is fast paced and offers well-defined split vocals. It’s an easy choice for a single and, as you might expect, the production is exquisite, allowing the toughened percussion and gritty guitars free reign to roam across the track. An album highlight, and a track that ably shows off the band’s genesis in film composition, sirens slowly builds tension as each element is introduced over time. Similarly, the sinister mutiny provides stranger things with a welcome filmic feel that sees the strings of the former give way to a bruising rhythm and clean vocal that harks back to the glory days of Cooper Temple Clause.
The band offer up another brief segue with silver, a hazy synth-and-drone piece, before heading into the blissful synth-rock of where eagles dare, a track that details the pitfalls of the music business with a blissful eighties sound reminiscent of Haken’s affinity. Better still, the band decide to break out some bigger guitars for the cracking brainwave, another album highlight that deftly works its way into the sub-conscious, only to emerge at awkward moments which range from standing in the shower to commuting to work (yep, some weird looks the bus with that one). Reaching an explosive peak, the lengthy alligators is the best example of Flight Brigade finding their own sound, as if the album has been leading up to this one, exquisite point. The band follow it up with a sweeping, string-laden piece with a Parisian air, the superbly elegant how your river runs through me, which would arguably have made the perfect album closer. As it is, Flight Brigade have one last piece for the listener, the subtle, restrained creature, which provides a fittingly melancholic encore to the main set.
At the outset, chased by wolves seems set to be a well-recorded and played album that stays close to its influences. Tracks such as Tinderbox and fury road, in particular, almost stray into indie pastiche territory. However, these opening moves, like the opening tracks at a live show, are just the band easing the audience in and, by the time sirens emerges, Flight Brigade are content to show their own colours, all of which culminates in the fantastic alligators. Drawing on a mix of prog, electronica, indie, rock and film composition, chased by wolves is a bold, sweeping album that frequently surprises the listener with the turns it takes, and it suggests that Flight Brigade are only just getting started. 8.5
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