BROKEN RECORDS – UNTIL THE EARTH BEGINS TO PART

There is definitely a little bit of gypsy in Scottish seven-piece Broken Records; that and a large mill-stone hanging around neck of their debut album as it attempts to live up to the “next-big-thing” tag from the British press and nagging Arcade Fire comparisons. It is the intensity of delivery and earnestness of mood they share with Arcade Fire that hits you first. Followed by their array of instrumentation, from mandolin to glockenspiel, cello  to accordion, along with the more conventional guitar, bass, drums and piano. That they can soar with the best of them should not be ignored, for at their best Until The Earth Begins To Part is epic and grand; swelling strings triumph on Thoughts On A Picture, and their traditional if pretentious love song If Eilert Loevborg Wrote A Song It Would Sound Like This bounds with considerable klezmer joy. These moments are enough to sustain, and enough to forgive times when they seem unable to overcome the weight of expectation and their own efforts.

*** 1/2