There Will Be Fireworks – The Dark, Dark Bright Album Review

For a band intimately familiar with the power of grand crescendos and bristling upsurges, the near silence that followed There Will Be Fireworks’ self-titled debut has been something of an uncharacteristic anti-climax: almost five years with nowt but a stopgap EP to keep hopes alive that they’d make good on their early promise. The Dark, Dark Bright belatedly achieves just that.

Even before hearing a note, the archaic syntax in the title of opener And Our Hearts Did Beat indicates they haven’t lost their high-drama impulses – a suspicion confirmed upon pressing play and receiving a poetic sample, gently strummed acoustic guitar, Nicky McManus’s impassioned vocals and a closing flurry of orchestral noise. If Our Hearts… indicates continuing strengths, River is the first of several to showcase new ones, its maelstrom of fiery howls and icy guitars setting a benchmark intensity for all that follows. Their occasional reversion to tried-and-tested formulas notwithstanding, this is a well-crafted return from a band once feared fizzled out but now burning brighter than ever. [Chris Buckle]