BEATFORTEN - Scotland

BEATFORTEN - Built To Last

"As one of Scotland's better kept musical secrets, this debut album is as impressive as any you might have heard this year. Songwriters Yorick Cormack and Niall Holmes are from Stirlingshire but the music they make is much more Austin than Alloa. 'The Ballad For A Film (Dylan To McGuinn)' spells out where they are coming from, while radio-friendly tunes, such as 'Waking Up' indicate how far this band could go.
Recorded by Chris Gordon in Glasgow's Southside, this is a big, roomy sound with barely compressed rich vocal sounds, boasting some accomplished songwriting. Americana is the vogue, but the Endrick Brothers are more effective as a straight rock band, with the keyboard intro to the cleverly constructed 'Seven Long Years' worth a thousand pedal steel guitars.
Cormack and Holmes also pass the acid pop test of being able to turn out a thoroughly memorable ditty which clocks in at under three minutes, and 'Don't Tell A Soul' ranks with the best of Badfinger to boot. The transatlantic intonation in the vocals can get a bit wearing, although the substance of this record far outweighs the style.
Mentioning the obvious influences is no less spurious than pointing out that Wilco's Jeff Tweedy is a fan of Neil Young - with songwriting this strong, the Endrick Brothers are bigger than any comparisons."
Colin Somerville
Scotland On Sunday
Sun 4 Dec 2005