Trampolene 'Swansea to Hornsey' Album Review

Trampolene
‘Swansea to Hornsey’
Album Review
4/5

Welsh trio, Trampolene are releasing their debut album, Swansea to Hornsey October 27^th.
The album is a murky, fire-starting journey that allows you an insight to the band’s antics whilst giving a sensation not too dissimilar to that found in The Libertines self-titled album with the strength of early Manics. However, there are also snippets of reckless mentality venturing towards a more vintage, rock sound comparable to The Paddingtons.

The album opens with ‘Artwork of Youth’, a spoken word, reflective portrayal of front man, Jack Jones’ childhood. Jones mentions the “first girl he fancied”, “the first boy he fancied” and the first girl to give him pain in his chest. The brutal honesty and almost confession-style poem reflects Jones’ adolescence before he states he was, “the first one to get out. Thank fuck for that”. The album then contains a mixture of singles previously released by the band such as ‘Alcohol Kiss’ and ‘You Do Nothing For Me’. However, the singles on the album are new mixes or extended versions; showing the endless amount of work put in to this record. Swansea to Hornsey also contains pre-released, spoken-word favourites, ‘Ketamine’ and ‘Pound Land’ that give the album a cultural spin making it more relevant than ever. The poetry tracks give a social relaxation period between belters such as ‘Primrose Hill’ that begins with a riff so irresistibly dirty you can’t help but stop and listen.

Jones’ socially-aware poetry has gained the attention of John Cooper Clarke with Clarke describing it as, “Exceptional poetry, funny and depressing at the same time and how often can you say that?” The tone of voice found in the spoken word tracks bring with them a manner of honesty, giving the rest of the album credibility and integrity. The biting lyricism and charged indie punk make this album one to listen too. With heavy Libertines influences and an early ability to write catchy songs and captivating poetry, this album is just the start of a long career for Trampolene.