Edinburgh based rockers Curators are very slowly making a big name for themselves. Selling themselves hugely short with a description of “big, dumb pop songs”, this four piece offer up new album The Cold in the Walls and could be on the cusp of an explosive 2013 and the break out they deserve.
Making a name for yourself in the modern musical industry isn’t as easy as many would have you believe. The problem herein exists that if you aren’t a jailbait skirting piece of fluff then you have to be indie, a simple matter of fact. It is altogether too easy for up and coming groups to mortgage their creative individualism to “fit in.”
What’s refreshing about Curators is the seemingly effortless and seamless way that they tick every commercial box while still retaining that musical dignity that is so hard to come by.
The new album showcases a band, not only utterly devoted to their own sound, but one that have the potential to be everybody’s new favourite. From the opening anthem ‘Sunk’ to the borderline melancholy ‘North Star,’ Jon Dick and co. have the uncanny knack of filling the dead air with a genuinely listenable and, more importantly, enjoyable sound.
Bold, bombastic and full of bravado, the guitar work interlays with the ethereal effects that have become a modern, integral part of this type of music. Where Biffy Clyro may have gone overboard with the church bells over guitars sound, the ensuing trend has been used and overused to different degrees of success since.
For Curators, however, it feels much more natural than any sort of forced necessity. Making that important leap from fringe pub band to commercially viable, record-selling superstars is a tough one but this group look more than capable.
With yet another summer of festivals, late nights and a baying crowd of angst ridden teenagers all looking for their “song of the year,” Curators have made a pretty good stab at making them the people’s choice. With The Cold in the Walls, there is a good chance that they’ve set themselves up as the next big Scottish indie band that crack that all important golden egg.