In the song “Cocoon” by Catfish and the Bottlemen anyone can hear singer Van McCann sing the words, “I’d rather go blind than let you down” and let me down is the exact opposite of what the band’s debut album has done. The release was highly anticipated by their growing fan base and “The Balcony,” the album, lives up to the hype.

Catfish and the Bottlemen are an indie rock band based out of Llandudno, Wales, who formed back in 2007. Even though the band has been together for 8 years, this is their first studio album ever released. The band currently consists of singer, Van McCann, guitarist, Bondy Bond, bassist, Benji Blakeway, and drummer, Bob Hall. The band is continually compared to Arctic Monkeys and The Strokes, but Catfish and the Bottlemen still reach a sound of their own. Even though there have been bands who have had similar sounds to them, they still stand alone with this album.

The album, which is 11 songs long, takes the listener on a trip through both retro and modern sounds with McCann’s vocals sailing through hit after hit. The record opens with the song “Homesick” with a clean guitar intro which soon transforms into the band’s iconic crunchy guitar sound. It’s when the heavy guitar comes is when one truly realizes the musical trip they’re invoking. The next two songs on the album are the band’s top two hits, “Kathleen” and “Cocoon”, and by just listening to these songs anyone can understand their success. With infectious beats and clever lyrics, I can’t help but tap my foot and sing along and find myself dancing in my chair. After these two songs, the band sends out catchy songs after catchy songs. The stand out track out of the whole album hands down is “Hourglass”. “Hourglass” is the slowest of the songs on the album, but it is so raw it cuts harder than any of the other songs. At the beginning, a little bit of McCann speaking before he starts playing is audible, which conveys the feeling that this is an important song to him. The lyrics “I’m so impatient when you’re not mine.”, convey the song’s message of a desperate love.

The song is a refreshing take from pop culture’s “love song” as it more accurately relates to real life love.  This is a song where someone can listen to it over and over and it will never get old. From the crunchy to the acoustic guitars, The Balcony is an album everyone must listen to. It will surely not let you down.