White Lies – Five

Listening to Five is an experience; it generates a sense of rush and euphoria, a simultaneous upper and downer, a sound that is hopeful but with a razor-sharp edge to it

Album Review by Amy Kenyon | 01 Feb 2019
Album title: Five
Artist: White Lies
Label: PIAS Recordings
Release date: 1 Feb

White Lies make a bold return with their latest album Five, released ten years after their epochal debut To Lose My Life... Bassist and lyricist Charles Cave says: "To Lose My Life... was the best possible record we could have made aged 19... Five is absolutely the best record we could’ve made aged 30." With the rapid way in which the industry evolves, after over a decade of songwriting most artists today would be forced to adapt or to fade away into obscurity but White Lies' hauntingly nostalgic sound remains unchanged.

With darker lyrics which have mellowed with age, the album opens with the operatic, seven-minute long Time to Give. Like an intergalactic symphony, the band creates a wall of sound that is more of a forcefield. With tracks such as Tokyo, Five is melancholic synth-pop that soars to new heights – but with a strong gravitational pull downwards. Listening to the album is an experience; it generates a sense of rush and euphoria, a simultaneous upper and downer, a sound that is hopeful but with a razor-sharp edge to it.

It's as though Five sees a return to the scene of Farewell to the Fairground from their debut, where the rides have broken down and been abandoned, but this time the lyrics set the scene in space. White Lies have succeeded in creating an album with much more scope that is a testament to the enduring nature of their sound. Five denotes a chapter in the band’s career but it does by no means symbolise the end of White Lies.

Listen to: Time to Give, Tokyo, Believe It

https://www.whitelies.com/