Boston Manor releases sophomore album ‘Welcome to the Neighbourhood’

“The changes in sound and topic are a sign of maturing, learning and trying new things, but does not make Boston Manor’s music unrecognizable — still hitting us with riffs and breakdowns that fans will remember.”

Returning with a second studio album, Boston Manor ushers in a more refined sound from the U.K. based rock band.

Along with sounding more refined, the tone of this album is significantly different from their first full length, Be Nothing. Tackling more serious issues, Welcome to the Neighbourhood gives listeners a look at how drugs have affected their hometown — which U.S. fans can relate to.

The changes in sound and topic are a sign of maturing, learning and trying new things, but does not make Boston Manor’s music unrecognizable — still hitting us with riffs and breakdowns that fans will remember.

“I think the time between the last record and this one, we kind of thought we knew who we were,” explains vocalist Henry Cox in a press release. “But we’ve realised that even now we’re still figuring that out. Before, we were scared to try stuff, whereas on this record there were no limits. We wanted to push ourselves, instead of being terrified to dip just one little toe in the wrong direction.”

By far my favorite two tracks are “Welcome to the Neighbourhood” and “Flowers in Your Dustbin”; the latter discussing the trivial themes that young adults tend to focus on over the larger picture.

Part of the goal in addressing larger and more impactful themes was to wake up more people around his age to the issues that matter.

“I’m just trying to draw attention to a few issues,” said Cox. “The things that are important to my generation are just so trivial in my eyes, but who am I to say? I can’t really offer any immediate solutions, but I can try to throw a bucket of cold water on some of my peers, to just get them to feel more and think more and not be so apathetic.”

Cox directed the music video for their single Bad Machine, which has a distinct frame for the track’s vibe — being shot in black and white and having vivid imagery.

“We knew we wanted to capture some of the sleaziness of the track & condense the video down to a sequence of ‘moments’, almost like a movie trailer,” added Cox.

Overall the sophomore album from Boston Manor is a definite hit, fans will be able to listen to Welcome to the Neighbourhood Sept. 7 as well as catch the on band on tour this fall with Real Friends. More information can be found here.

 

*Photo credit: Joshua Halling