I actually remember quite liking Athlete. It was around about the Mercury Music Prize (the one they lost out to Dizzy Rascal) and I distinctly remember being quite upset about this. After listening to
Hurricane, for the life of me, I can’t remember why.
I am entirely unmoved by this tune. I tried very hard to like it on the grounds that, at some point, I must have liked them. I failed. The tune’s quite catchy, but in a radio-friendly sort of way. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing but it’s definitely not
my thing. The lyrics are so entirely dull that, other than ‘
Hurricane’, I couldn’t tell you any. Also, I’m not entirely sure where the
Hurricane correlation comes in.
The ‘instrumental’ version is essentially the same song with the words erased. It seems pointless to me – unless you’re building your own sing-along-karaoke machine in your bedroom. Maybe that’s Athlete’s master plan? I have no idea. All I can say is, if that’s the case, they can thoroughly count me out. My flatmate said “They’re a band my Mum would like”. I’m not sure even that’s true.
Hurricane is out now on EMI records
http://www.myspace.com/athlete