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| | Athlete - Tourist (Album Review) |
 | | Much like Keane and Snow Patrol, Athlete is betting the farm that it is. On its sophomore effort Tourist, the band trades the indie rock etchings of its debut Vehicles and Animals for a simpler, more conventional sound, but although it strives for majestic, melodramatic melancholia, it largely achieves mere syrupy superficiality. |
 | | Delivering lyrics that are full of heartache and yearning, lead singer Joel Potts relishes his new role as a purveyor of sensitive-guy vulnerability while, swirling around him, the music routinely alternates between its quiet verses and its loud choruses, incorporating along the way an array of gimmicks plucked from the playbook of overwrought emotion. |
 | | For the most part, however, Tourist’s grandiose gestures not only fall flat, but also land with a resoundingly dull thud. |
| www.musicbox-online.com /ath-tour.html (206 words) |
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