I Am The Door- Frequency

by Simon T Diplock

Disappointingly, not a door

"Just check the dizzying musical layers and myriad of emotions running through the plus five-minutes of ‘You Are’, the dramatic submarine noises of ‘Tomorrow Belongs to Us’ and is that a flock of seagulls squawking over the beginning of ‘Why We Disappeared’?"

I Am The Door aren’t a door at all, but are in fact, four boys from Bristol. So, still no chance of seeing a talking wardrobe on the Astoria stage but that’s where the disappointment ends.

On paper, nothing about this particular ‘Door, or their debut disc ‘Frequency’, sounds appealing. Look at the list of influences the band claim for starters; Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, U2… it’s bloated rock act after bloated and humourless rock act.

It’s fantastic then when the first track here slides into view like it might be the bastard child of Muse and a howling jet engine. Far from pompous stadium stuff, the next fourty minutes sound more like Circa Survive, Thursday or any of the newer breed of forward thinking emotional bands. U2 would need humility implants, a week at rock’n’roll band camp and a swift kick up the arse to sound this good.

So there’s a sparkling progressive quality to the material here but on first listen none of it sounds like it could ever appeal to the casual radio rock fan, at least not like the behemoths above ever have. Just check the dizzying musical layers and myriad of emotions running through the plus five-minutes of ‘You Are’, the dramatic submarine noises of ‘Tomorrow Belongs to Us’ and is that a flock of seagulls squawking over the beginning of ‘Why We Disappeared’?

But, again, dig just a little deeper and there are swirling vocals that could swallow arenas whole, FM-friendly riffs and even a hint of the epic to closer ‘Make Yourself Strong’ which might mean that U2 influence came in handy after all.

This is a band in its infancy but one with masses of promise. They currently lack truly memorable tunes, but I Am The Door tout a sound that has room enough to grow into the best British thing for years.

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