Gavin Chappell-Bates ‘95’

Gavin’s debut single ‘Black Holes’ was an epic, unhurried stomper replete with a brick-heavy bass line and a brooding, cynical world-view. ‘95’ is by contrast a rather more chirpy reminisce of his
misspent youth and the British rock bands of that soundtracked that era.

The lyrics weave references to key songs of this time – ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’, ‘Anyone Can Play Guitar’ etc – amongst personal recollections of ‘setting fires and running wild’. Gavin manages to be
celebratory without sliding into mawkishness which is trickier than one may think – check out Chris Evans’ toe-curling re-hash of TFI
Friday recently on television for confirmation of this.

 

Of course, there’s always a hint of sadness in songs that yearn for days gone by (Midway Still’s ‘Counting Days’ or Senseless Things
‘Can’t Go Back’ are two great examples) but Gavin wisely swerves the crushing realities of ‘now’ and sticks with the ‘then’ to maximum effect. So when the air-punching chorus kicks in with “I wanna be back
in ’95”, it’s hard not to be carried along on the good vibes.

At the time of writing this, ‘95’ is the only track from the single available for review but I’m certain the other tracks will be a good listen, as the accompany tracks on his last single were also very strong. This is a positive and intriguing second single from Gavin.

Rich

Released July 20th:

http://gavinchappellbates.com/