Man, how much do you envy Zane Lowe? I envy him quite a lot. Tonight he debuted the first single from Kasabian‘s forthcoming album “Velociraptor!” – as you do. (Yes, not only is the album named after the widely-acknowledged Most Epic Dinosaur; it also includes an exclamation mark. That’s how you know it’s good.)
We’ve already had a taste of what’s to come in the form of “Switchblade Smiles”, which I was unsure about. The drums sounded like Oasis‘ “Fuckin’ In The Bushes”, so that was good. But that bass synth… That sounded like Robbie Williams‘ “Lovelight”, so not good at all. “Days Are Forgotten”, which has been around for a week or so already but only just got an official bump when they upped it to their YouTube page, sees them squarely back in rock territory. There’s even a slight hint of Semisonic in the guitar tones, which I’m going to chalk up as a good thing.
For me, I can’t see them ever repeating the magic of their self-titled debut, but then I’m biased. I saw them perform it live at Leeds ’04 just before it was released; it was late at night, they played one of the smaller stages, and the atmosphere was incredible. To date, they are one of my favourite live acts. “Days Are Forgotten” hasn’t recaptured that glory, but it sounds confident and brash, and a lot closer to their best than 2009′s “West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum”.
