If you’re looking for a break-up album this shouldn’t be your first choice. More Break-up Songs is the debut album from Darren Hayman’s newly led band New Starts and feels like an immediate misstep. The influences of The Breeders and The Velvet Underground, among others, can be felt throughout the project; however, I think they do quite miss the mark in some areas.

This concept album’s themes include love, heartbreak, disappointment, and sadness. I felt this really hurt and boxed in the album’s ideas that could’ve been more developed lyrically because they all felt like they were about the same topic line, as it’s written on the tin. There were points where I felt the songs had questionable lyrics, I had no idea what the songs were trying to say, such as on track seven, Asbestos Roof. The song’s lyrical theme felt too random to understand and enjoy. Track 6 Home Becomes a Lantern suffers from the same issues, as a listener I’d feel couldn’t get into these tracks due to the odd themes. Other album tracks you just couldn’t like due to the singer’s offbeat, out-of-tune singing. This works for some artists such as The Clash or Bob Dylan, but didn’t on this project.

There were also some highlights to mention on the album. The instrumentation across the project was great sonically and enjoyable, but seemly following similar patterns on each track as the album went on. My favourite points throughout were the dynamic sections on the tracks, switching from quiet to loud, especially on track one A Little Stone, it blended well.  The album’s highlight tracks for me were song eleven I was trying to make you miss me, the punk pace of the track with those guitars producing some groovy licks, underlined by a great snare heavy drum line and the chugging bass keeping it all tied together. Then, track twelve Let Me Start Again sounded great with the layers of distorted guitar riffs interlocking, the quick drum fills and the changing frequently changing dynamics.

This album certainly had a few good points but I felt was severely held back by the writing and singing department. Musically the band was great but toned down their potential because of the band’s liberal repetition throughout the album.  I wouldn’t recommend this album to anyone if they weren’t going thorough a breakup and certainly wouldn’t if they were.

New Starts: More Break-Up Songs – Out 16th August 2024 (Fika Recordings)

Starts – A Little Stone (youtube.com)