Record Label: Atomic Heart Records

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Ash tend to get a pretty raw deal.  They seem to have spent the past few years taking criticism for not sounding like they did when they were eighteen.  Although they’ve clearly tried to evolve their sound, many people have just ignored their new work and gone back to listening to 1977.  ‘Carnal Love’, the latest release in their A-Z singles series, is likely to generate pretty much the same reaction – and I can’t quite figure out if it deserves that or not.  It certainly has its flaws; the verses are far too saccharine, both musically and lyrically, with Tim Wheeler opening the song by crooning, ‘Sweet thing, graceful beauty of a seraphim.’  But this leads into the pleasing sing-along chorus: ‘It’s carnal love that I’m thinking of; I’m addicted to your sweet stuff’.  This might also sound cheesy, but it works nicely in what is essentially a power ballad; it’s reminiscent of the more tongue in cheek material from The Darkness’ first album.  While it’s not clear whether Ash intend it to be taken seriously or not, this song should definitely be treated as a joke; embrace the silliness and it’s really quite enjoyable.

Record Label: Atomic Heart Records

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Our Rating:

Letter Q, (no 17) in Ash’s 26-singles club venture, ‘Binary’ is a guileless slab of 80’s revivalism. Actually, it’s a guileless slab of 80’s – there’s no nod to contemporariness, or any sort of knowingness, and it’s quite easy to visualise this being played in a bad movie by a 16 year old Corey Feldman. The melody line is typical Ash; agreeable enough without ever commanding the attention, but the synth-pop instrumentals could have come from any major label industrial production line, as could Tim Wheeler’s mid-lantic drawl vocal. I’m all for musicians pushing themselves, breaking out from their established sound, but this smacks of either the band knowing that their singles club is paid up and taking the opportunity to have an indulgent dick around, or a brazen attempt to get themselves back into the public profile by whoring to current scenester-ism. Given that this is the 5^th radio single out of the 19 so far, and a Facebook campaign has been created to get it into the top 40, methinks the latter. Either scenario is not overly admirable. If you like tracks which could be performed quite as easily by an XFactor winner – without actually crucifying the song – as by their writers, knock yourself out.