Listen: Life in Film – “This War”

On May 5, Life in Film released Here It Comes, the London group’s debut full-length album.

With Here It Comes, Life in Film offers power pop songs with strong accents and infectious beats. Lead singer Samuel Fry’s voice has a strong gravity, and while all the lyrics are about break-ups, Here It Comes is defiantly positive as opposed to morose and sad.

Listeners may find themselves uncontrollably dancing to songs on Here It Comes. The album’s first single, “Get Closer,” showcases melodic guitar riffing and ebullient drumming. The title track is even more anthemic and catchy: the song’s chorus — “Let’s take the time to live while we’re young / and do all the bad things we know that are fun.” — is my new Saturday night battle cry.

The production is good with a well-rounded sound coming from a quartet that can play both sparsely and with full sonic power. “Anna Please Don’t Go” is a nice example of how the band’s producer held back, with just an acoustic guitar and strings. The addition of strings can be a warning sign of overproduction, but instead the powerful singing and instrumentation anchor the song.

Overall, Here It Comes is a solid set of pop rock ditties. It’s memorable, fun, and energetic. A bit reminiscent of Vampire Weekend, the band may not have rewritten the genre, but they have contributed a good effort that should translate into a vibrant live show this Wednesday.

Life in Film plays House of Blues San Diego on Wednesday, May 13.