Slipway Fires is
Razorlight's most mainstream release to date, an album that downplays the band's garage rock past for something akin to
Snow Patrol's adult-approved pop. Thick harmonies and economical hooks demonstrate the band's growth -- they're no longer ripping off
the Strokes, having left the swaggering sounds of
Up All Night far behind -- but growth is the very problem with
Slipway Fires, whose mature, polished tones might as well have been recorded by middle-aged AOR vets rather than
Clash-loving twentysomethings. This is an album of earnest piano ballads and well-scrubbed rock, an album that sports song titles like "North London Trash" but sounds as dirty as early-'80s
Fleetwood Mac. At times, the earnest posturing gives way to something like "Tabloid Lover," a fun, shamelessly trashy romp that sets up shop in
the Bangles' pop palace. Another highlight, "Burberry Blue Eyes" is reminiscent of
the Feeling's power pop bounce, but while such a song would sound appropriate on
the Feeling's next release, it's hard to reconcile the fact that
Razorlight -- a band that previously sang about bar-filled evenings and hung-over mornings -- have now traded in their street-smart denim for songs about luxury clothing chains. Enjoying
Slipway Fires requires a suspension of disbelief, a conscious separation between the band's past and the somewhat ludicrous present. Of course, not looking at the outlandishly serious cover art -- in which frontman
Johnny Borrell attacks the camera with a smoldering glance, an unbuttoned dress shirt, and a seemingly un-ironic pearl necklace -- may also help. [This digital edition includes the bonus track "Where the Frequencies Run Deep and Wild."] ~ Andrew Leahey