“Eyes Wide Open”
from the album The Boy with No Name
2007
iTunes
MP3 – “Eyes Wide Open”
Even hardened supporters of the Glasgow four-piece may have doubted them after 2003’s lackluster 12 Memories and subsequent singles collection.
The Boy with No Name finds a recently invisible band craft what might be their most loveable work yet. The album fizzes with the melodic, earnest melody that won adulation for Good Feeling and The Man Who, while utilising stripped-down acoustic sounds that nudges them, gently, in new directions.
These aren’t a radical departure — radio-friendly “Closer” harks back to the sound that brought Fran Healy’s less than merry men to public attention a decade ago while perky-yet-cynical “My Eyes” will have the crowd jumping. “Selfish Jean” and the catchy “Eyes Wide Open” both suggest an album that has been thought about, ruminated on and delivered with an open invitation to discover Travis again.