Echobelly – Gravity Pulls (2004) (Review)

Echobelly – Gravity Pulls (2004) Echobelly isn’t one of the bands I’m most familiar with. I know that their song “Insomniac” is proof that they were one of the countless bands inspired by The Smiths. Echobelly, much like excellent bands like Slowdive, have crossed the decades starting with the 90s, but without having made countless albums. In fact, they only made three albums (in ’94, ’95 and ’97), which isn’t necessarily impressive when compared with giants like Blur, who made Leisure in ’91, Modern Life Is Rubbish in ’93, Parklife in ’94, The Great Escape in ’95, Blur (self-titled album) in ’97 and finally 13, in ’99. All top-quality albums, to boot! On the other hand, that’s the same number of albums as a fabulous band like Lush.Echobelly isn’t the band I most appreciate, haunt or obsess over. I’d call them a nice, respectable band. But maybe I’ll change my mind if I listen carefully to everything they’ve created. Basically, they’ve done a pretty good job.But I’ve been listening to other bands like Dubstar, Sleeper, Salad, Elastica, Mansun, Cardigans, My Bloody Valentine and so on. This is the second album they released in the 2000s. In 2004, to be exact, three years after People are Expensive. We then had to wait until the end of the 2010s to find them again in 2017 with Anarchy & Alchemy, then the following year with Black Heart Lullabies. Gravity Pulls is more soaring than energetic. It’s a good album, without being extraordinary. These Brits were champions of alternative rock, indie rock and Britpop on their first two albums. They’ve never been able to recapture the success they had then. The band’s most consistent members are singer Sonya Madan and guitarist Glenn Johansson. 🌟🌟🌟