Silvertrain - A Chance To Die

Hear The Track Here

While I was downloading the latest Silvertrain track I was having fantasies about John Brandon finally getting serious and writing the next Bond song. Wouldn't that be sweet? He could probably do that too, although with a little more help than he seems to be getting. The tale of Silvertrain is long and convoluted and best not delved into here, suffice to say that this track features John (sans Ritchie) and new(ish) member Lino Gonzalez whose music and style spiced up I Thought I Knew You (October 2009) and made that track one of the rare Must Haves Silvertrain has earned of late. What it showed most, IMHO, is that there is room for John to carry the torch forward and for Ritchie to get involved whenever... Although I yearn for them to sing together again. Listen to The One To Blame CD for the best examples of that.

Tell you what if you'd asked me back in the band's first flush of internet fame (2003/2004) what they would sound like in years to come I would never have pointed in such an electronic direction. For my money, it really adds to the whole Silvertrain experience, expanding the songs accordingly. Considering that A Chance To Die weighs in at four and a half minutes, it's almost epic in scale compared to their usual a minute and a half masterpieces. Whether that is what John built into the song or what came about once Lino had supplied the basic backing track is open to conjecture.

Nonetheless, despite it's initial roughness (the backing track is kinda muffled) and the start-stop intro, what comes out the other end is definitely a Silvertrain song but again not in the classic sense. The initial sense of fun that is so immediate with Silvertrain has been replaced with a much darker, denser vision on A Chance To Die and is probably more Alternative than a lot of their usually poppy output. Funnily enough, I caught echoes of Depeche Mode in the vocal, again if this was intentional it sure worked. Still, it is most recognisably a Silvertrain track and that is always something to cheer about but this new, mature sounding band IMO has tremendous possibilities.

Highly Recommended mix of Acoustic and Electronica. Train spotters will already have it.