Tags: budapest, Departures, james blunt, John Garrison, ronan keating, take that

‘Departures’ starts with a promising opening as some light percussion leads into a pleasant enough track ‘Let’s Run’, which as it developed, my boy-band pop heckles began to rise.  Really, this album is a loosely-guised mainstream pop offering, which is more Ronan Keating than David Gray. There are a few interesting slights of percussion, piano, but overall, the indie  cynic alarm bells sounded early and rang throughout. To be fair, John Garrison’s ‘Departures’ is well put together, and will find a audience  for it’s relaxing, everyday songs. But without a strong voice and no real spark of originality, the good flashes in better tracks such as in ‘Footprints’ and ‘Rendevous’ do not re-occur often enough and this album really doesn’t sound new or different. Though there is a track called ‘Cold Coffee’ which I guess could be used to advertise Starbuck’s.  ‘Departures’ treads a well worn path fairly effectively, but gets stuck in clichéd expectation. Garrison, formely of British band Budapest, is not without musical talent, but this album is a pretty dull affair that slips past without really engaging you. Like Starbucks, I just don’t get it.

Related Reviews:

1. John Brown’s Body – ‘Amplify’
2. Twin Atlantic- ‘You’re Turning Into John Wayne’
3. Kid British
4. The Sound That I Still Hear – The Mojo Fins