By Nothing But Thieves are set to make a triumphant return today with their eagerly anticipated sophomore album, Broken Machine.
Having already made a splash with singles; Amsterdam and Sorry, the album seemingly slows in momentum with its title track Broken Machine.
As a track, we’re initially introduced with looping vocals and a heavily pronounced bass-line followed by the distinctive voice of frontman, Conor Mason. These are quickly followed by a familiarly simplistic repeated melody providing undemanding relaxed tones which build upon each other to provide a sense of depth with little substance.
Whilst an interesting addition to Nothing But Thieves musical catalogue, it is undeniable that Broken machine has a monotonous quality to it.
The initial line “I’m just a Broken Machine” is repeated throughout the track, acting as an identifiable place-mark in an otherwise rather unremarkable song.
The band previously stated that they shared a goal of creating an album that feels “fresh and exciting”, whilst also “experimenting with sounds” and “expanding what we could do musically”
However, the track Broken Machine offers very little in the way of musical development, opting instead to keep incredibly in touch with their pre-existing formula despite emphasising in interviews that we could expect a progression of sound and experimentation between their self-titled album and Broken Machine.
Whilst their sound doesn’t seem to have drastically developed as promised, Nothing But Thieves at least remain masters at writing melodically simplistic crowd pleasing buzzword tracks.
As a fan of Nothing But Thieves, I found Broken Machine to be a rather disappointing single, and I must admit that as a title track acting as a precursor to the bands eagerly anticipated second album, I personally would have expected a lot more.
Although it may not seem the case, I do enjoy the song. However, it can’t be ignored that you could very much mumble along to the track in its entirety until coming across the two excluding words “Broken Machine”.
To any new listeners hoping to get into Nothing But Thieves, I personally would suggest checking out the track Amsterdam instead.
Listen to a stripped version of Nothing But Thieves’ new single, Broken Machine below:
