THE ROYSTON CLUB - Songs for the spine review

In August, Welsh indie band The Royston Club returned with their highly anticipated second studio album 'Songs For The Spine', which came exactly a year on from the release of the band's most popular single yet, The Patch Where Nothing Grows.

The album is a momentous continuation of the band's sound, working with producer Richard Turvey (Blossoms), the track flow is effortless, and really showcases a band stapling themselves into the revitalised UK indie scene.

Kicking off the album is Shivers which builds into a lashing guitar sound with a slow bass. It's classic indie, a shouty chorus and a momentary breath-catcher, before ending at the pace it maintained throughout.

The lead single, The Patch Where Nothing Grows follows, has had a life of it's own a year on from it's release. It's completely euphoric, and a fast, catchy continuation of the albums momentum. It's an absolute classic indie banger.

Musically, the album uses the contrast of energetic guitar tone and lyric to create poignant and deep tracks, like in 30/20 and Glued To The Bed with lyrics, "I'm still thinking of her when I'm not thinking at all", while maintaining that indie feel about it.

The album reaches an emotional zenith in Cariad, an acoustical masterpiece, that points to a life of scrolling through social media of photos with a former lover, and "outrageously dreaming of us reconvening". It's an epic, a song that live would do nothing more than take your head off of your shoulders - and for me it's the peak of the record.

A similarly acoustic feel follows in Spinning, however this track goes even bigger, and Tom stretches his vocals further than anywhere else on the album, it's a song that has the lot - transforming from a slow, melancholic number, to angry and youthful.

Ending on The Ballad of Glen Campbell, an anthemic six minutes long, summoning every beat and every ounce of energy from the record into a single track, which like many others builds into a passionate ending, not only for the song but for the whole album.

'Songs For The Spine' breaks the second album curse with an emphatic edgy, emotional core. It echoes their first record, full of raw energy and angst, however is completely evolved, with higher highs and lower lows.