CATFISH and The BOTTLEMEN land on No. 1 with their sophomore album The Ride.

Catfish and The Bottlemen take us on a marvellous ride with their second album, yet the lack of outstanding hits makes it feel a tad too safe.

Catfish and The Bottlemen follow up their highly successful debut The Balcony, with an anticipated second record. Just finishing their promo tour, it is safe to say these are busy boys, and that the live version of The Ride’s tracks will reach widely as festival season kicks off.

An opening track often sets the bar for a record, and 7 starts with an acoustic guitar and singalong friendly lyrics, centring McCann’s vocal, building into a charming bridge, a sympatric start after all. I beg you to know I’m never home / and I love you but I need another year alone, who doesn’t fall for a self-confessional lover boy?

An outstanding indie piece of high quality, yet the main ingredient for a fully successful record is absent. Though strong tunes throughout, The Ride misses those anthems that made their previous album stand out.

Yet, Catfish have grown. They are no longer the young lads they started out as, and gained knowledge comes across in their more refined tunes – check out the bridges in Soundcheck.

Another aspect that is affected by the band’s coming of age is Van McCann’s lyrics, no longer relying only on the boyish charm we see a lyrical progression, a marvel and a mess. He has his poetical moments of glory, yet it can be a bit cheesy at times. At its best this record shines, yet it falls flat by playing the same card over and over again. Still a winner if you’re a huge Catfish fan of course but the boys give little new on this record.

There are songs with a hit potential, Soundcheck and Oxygen to name some, yet it is nothing monumental.

After all, who says it better than the band themselves? Just as McCann has stated earlier:

I feel like everybody started thinking too outside the box trying to be arty and different. We wanted to stay inside the box.

The album ultimately serves exactly what Catfish want it to. Safe inside their own box, singalong friendly, catchy, guitar heavy – perfect for a live format, all comes together just fine.

Nevertheless, the band have scored No. 1 with The Ride after the first week since its release.

Words: Aurora Henni Krogh