I was pleasantly surprised by how accessible Trademark’s music is to an unfamiliar ear: billed as a mix of electronica and dance, their sound ranges from mellow summer afternoon tunes like
Come to Love to more dancefloor friendly tunes like
Toe The Line, to ‘end credit’ ballads like
Self Pity. I’d describe them as being a little bit like a mix between Hot Chip and The Lightning Seeds, with a healthy dollop of synth spread on top. Not a bad thing.
You’ll notice an odd assortment of instruments appearing here and there: from a pipe organ to the string section of a percussion band. It’s difficult to tell whether these additions were done for the sake of being ‘quirky’ or if the band really felt they were necessary, but the result is pleasant enough either way and done with sufficient scarcity that it’s not too ‘in your face’.
The first single to come from this album is
Come to Love, one of the less obscure and more commercial tunes. I certainly enjoyed it, and I imagine it’ll feature in my playlist of ‘background’ tunes I like to have playing while I’m doing other things. In fact, it’s playing in the background whilst I’m typing this.
If you’re looking for something groundbreaking, this is unlikely to be it, however
Raise the Stakes would make for a very acceptable addition to your summer music collection and would most likely be a good choice for a mellow drive down to Blackpool or something. I half expect to hear one of their tracks on a popular mobile phone operator’s next advert about pretty young people in scenic parks. Taken purely on it’s own merits however,
Raise the Stakes would probably make a good introduction to electronica for the uninitiated, with it’s pop feel and warm vocals.
Sometimes a critic will only listen to an album once, and that’s just to provide the material for his or her review, with the CD in question confined to the back of the shelf afterwards. Perhaps the best praise I can give
Raise the Stakes is to reveal that this album will certainly be back in my CD player in future.
Raise the Stakes is out now on Truck Records, available on iTunes and on the high street. The single
Come to Love is also out now on iTunes.
Trademark’s MySpace
Trademark - Raise The Stakes 
