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Aug 22, 2013 Travis By Lily Moayeri

Travis were championed by Oasis’ Noel Gallagher in 1997, back when that might have meant something. These days that doesn’t mean much and Travis doesn’t either. The seventh album from the Scottish quartet, Where You Stand, is, at best, polite. Not quite dull enough to be entirely forgettable, Where You Stand plays it safe with middle-of-the-road everything. The melodies are serviceable, the hooks are not strong enough to latch onto, and the lyrics are predictable. Vocalist Fran Healy’s voice is the one element that rises above the others—shame the words he is singing are so trite and heavily reliant on a rhyming dictionary.

The sentiments on “Reminder”—whose simple, country rock chorus is lighthearted and pretty—are clichés woven into each other. The guitar lines on “Another Guy” sound a little too inspired by Smashing Pumpkins’ “1979,” which is probably why it sounds all right with roughly three lines of lyrics. The closest Where You Stand gets to the Travis of 16 years ago is on “A Different Room,” where Healy’s voice soars atop arm-pumping full instrumentation. It’s clear Where You Stand is valiantly trying to capture that Good Feeling again, but some things just disappear along with your youth. (www.travisonline.com)

Author rating: 3/10