Embrace – Avalanche

With their band lineup remaining unchanged since 1996, Embrace are celebrating 30 years with a slew of festival and headline shows. Rather than taking a retrospective approach for these appearances (and ignoring pleas to do so from management and their label), the Yorkshire band are instead releasing their ninth studio album Avalanche.

When approaching the record’s creation, frontman Danny McNamara explains, “We came into this album with a really simple idea: that real, deep, honest-to-God joy doesn’t live in the big, dramatic moments we’re all taught to chase.

“There’s also a deep acceptance running through the whole record – that life is fragile, ridiculous, beautiful, terrifying, and short, all at once. We weren’t trying to make any grand statement. We just wanted the songs to feel honest in the moment they were written.”

It’s fitting, then, for opening track Stop to set the tone, as it was the first song written for the album; it captures the hurtling sensation of a never-ending spin living on our planet, yet accepting this is the life we have. It’s a euphoric rush, and the intent of McNamara’s lyrics is echoed in the track’s racing arena-rock vibe. Lead single Road to Nowhere takes this further, inviting a partner along for the ride with a “woah-oh-oh” refrain perfect for audience sing-alongs.

McNamara also looks further inward on songs such as Get Out of My Own Way and Pure O, with the former accepting its demons in a Coldplay-reminiscent power ballad, while the latter is a dark adrenaline rush echoing a moment of weakness against them. Up in Your Feelings digs even deeper, lyrically stewing over a relationship gone sour as the music broodingly pounds on.

Yet hope is a recurring theme throughout, as can be heard on the gentle Americana rush of Coming Home and closing track The Power, serving as an appropriate ode to those who’ve stuck around after 30 years.

While Avalanche is solid as a whole, it does start to feel somewhat formulaic halfway in. These songs are sure to sound immense when played live, but there’s little variation within them when played in an album format. Furthermore, it’s a shame that every slow number has a bombastic crescendo; the likes of Emily, for example, could have been a welcoming breather. It’s a promising track, beginning as an intimate, heartfelt lullaby with a soft vocal from McNamara, yet its sentiment is lost when swelling to a grand finale.

On the whole, Avalanche finds Embrace looking to the future rather than dwelling on the past as they mark three decades together. Familiar to a fault at times but unfailingly sincere, it stands as a testament to the band’s enduring ability to turn life’s uncertainties into soaring, singalong anthems.