Every once in a while, a CD grabs you in unexpected ways, and so it is with the debut album from the UK’s Budapest. Premier single “Is This The Best It Gets” kicks off the festivities in all its falsettoed vocal glory. Evocative of Coldplay or David Gray or Thom Yorke’s brother’s old band, Unbelievable Truth, musically, vocalist John Garrison’s lilting tones set the band apart from many of the Brit bands currently in circulation. The melancholy is spread throughout the debut album by the Leamington Spa quintet, each song resonating deep in your chest cavity and tugging at your heartstrings. Chiming guitars, shuffling rhythms and the aforementioned melancholic feel are intertwined throughout Too Blind To Hear, from the sweeping “Look You In The Eye” and “Wake Up Call” to the plaintive piano ballad “Time” and the rockingest track on the album, closer “Nothing New.” Budapest may be providing “nothing new” in the way of groundbreaking music, but they’re doing a pretty damn good job at writing epic, heartfelt pop songs and stick in your mind and in your heart.
JEREMY P. GOLDSTEIN

Budapest
Republic/Universal

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