Garadh Prove Own Point With Third Album ‘Need A Change’

Garadh will rock you mildly with ‘Need a Change’

The one issue about rock music that every fan knows, but doesn’t want to admit is there’s a lot of it that sounds the same as everyone else. But once this is accepted, the joy of listening to the genre is to see how each artist can take the familiar format of playing rock and roll and make it unique to themselves. Geneva quartet Garadh are no strangers to the traditional rock song, and they’ve put the knowledge they’ve picked up it into their third album, 'Need a Change'.

The group get it right a lot across the album. Lead single "Every Single Day" packs a melody that will stick in your head, while opener "Broken Angel" springs the album to life with squealing lead guitar and the chorus refrain “I am a broken angel, I don’t believe in miracles anymore,” which helps stir drama, despite sounding like a line from a sub-par horror game.

"The Seafarer" also reveals the group’s careful craft in songwriting, as vocals are traded between Edward and François Hay, one providing frenetic squealing, as the other’s baritone keeps the song well grounded, and sounding directly influenced by legions of bands that have come before them.

Bands can show off classic rock influences without being accused of staleness - no music journalist would dare to call Jack White’s music unoriginal - but the lack of any unique character on 'Need a Change' makes the effort feel a bit flat. Tracks like "I Still Want Your Desires" and "Hopeless" sound like a budget Queens of the Stone Age, and the Hay brother’s vocal delivery feels like its torn pages from the book of Homme. Although criticising a band for sounding like QOTSA is a little like scorning a man for looking like Johnny Depp.

The musicianship across 'Need a Change' is delivered with a smooth flow that makes flourishing guitar work breeze by you like a desert wind, but also packs several punches in certain songs that cause unprecedented spells of head banging. However, without a spark that makes them truly unique and a desert’s space worth of bands that adopt a similar approach with more pizazz and harder riffs, listening to this album instead feels a little thankless.

As a rock band, Garadh make a relevant point – the genre does need a change. It’s a shame they proved it with their own music.

To find out more about Garadh click here.

To visit the Garadh Facebook page click here.

Words by Andy Davidson

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