Album Review: Blood Red Shoes - In Time To Voices

When a two-piece rock band is mentioned, most think of 'bluesy' acts like the late White Stripes or current chart toppers The Black Keys. Don't make that mistake with Brighton duo Blood Red Shoes.

While their first two albums – 2008 debut Box Of Secrets and career highlight Fire Like This (2010) – had a professional sound to them, the albums were dominated by high-energy rock songs. The band emphasised that they were a two-piece – apart from a couple of double-tracked guitars, there was no extra instrumentation. All that has changed with their new effort In Time To Voices. More polished rock than punk rock, the band has used every studio trick in the book to create an album that, for all its successes, relies too much on studio techniques than strong songwriting.

Sometimes the extra instrumentation helps. The first three songs – the title track, Lost Kids and first single Cold – benefit greatly from the larger scope given to them by the extra instruments. But the novelty soon wears off and the listener is left wondering where small-scale anthems such as the single Light It Up from Fire Like This have gone. Gone is the youthful energy of the first two albums, replaced by an abundance of reverb and introspective lyrics.

Some of the tracks are incredibly catchy, and it's by no means a bad album. Occasionally there is a great song – mid-album rocker Je Me Perds and closer 7 Years are excellent – but, as a whole, In Time To Voices is disappointing. Ambition gets the better of the band on this album – these Blood Red Shoes are better off with less polish.