'Drawn From Memory' by Embrace

‘Drawn From Memory’ was the second album from Embrace, and it marks the point where the wheels began to fall off the band. After the hype and bluster of ‘The Good Will Out’, the band needed an excellent second album to justify themselves. This wasn’t it.

That’s not to say it’s a bad album. Bits of it are great – ‘The Love It Takes’, ‘You’re Not Alone’ and ‘Save Me’ are all very effective. Sadly, they’re all done in the first three tracks. All three are examples of Embrace’s strong point – the mid-tempo indie sub-anthem. They genuinely do this very well. The trouble is, the rest of the album swerves too far from this template in either direction. When they slow down to a ballad (‘Drawn From Memory’ and ‘Liar’s Tears’), they never achieve anything more than boring. When they turn things up and attempt genuine rock, the results are mildly embarrassing. ‘Yeah You’ is the nadir – a shouty belligerent slice of pointlessness. ‘New Adam New Eve’ is better, but only by default. The only real point of bravery on the album is ‘Hooligan’ which is both intriguing and irritating in equal measure – a brave choice for a first single, but rather too dependent on the listener loving the kazoo. Embrace managed one more album after this before being dropped. They had a resurgence due to a Coldplay act of charity, but where are they now? No-one really seems to care.