The Rumour Said Fire - The Arrogant

Fresh off the back of some delightfully intimate gigs in Manchester and London, ‘big in Denmark’ band The Rumour Said Fire bring us their debut album. The folksy foursome’s first single, ‘The Balcony’, sold over 30,000 copies in iTunes, a feat made all the more remarkable when you acknowledge that, well, not that many people live in Denmark.

Capable of displaying soothing folk melodies and more upbeat anthemic tunes, it is a formidable first album. From the very beginning, the gentle, layered vocal harmonies in ‘Sentimentally Falling’ put the listener immediately mind of a more cheerful Civil Wars, albeit with a penchant for strings and a bit more strumming. The single from which the album’s name was taken is a particular joy: a wistful tale of regret and loss, infectiously punctuated with a harmonica that doesn’t feel token or shoe-horned; not always an easy gambit to pull off for a folk debut.

Restraint is something the band do particularly well, and with the twinkling, understated string work of tracks like ‘Passion’ show other bands that originality needn’t be complicated.

Although final track ‘The Balcony’ is a rousing finish to a solid album, it falters a bit before we get there. ‘By The Shore’, the album’s penultimate track, offers little, and grates rather than grows with repeated listens. The saving grace of the less pleasing tracks are Jesper’s vocals – in fashionable folk style, an octave higher than some would expect, but graceful rather than waif-like, and above all, endearing.

One thing for which that particular track suffers is a tendency to overuse woodwind instruments, the result sounding like the lads are re-imagining The Wicker Man soundtrack. But this is a small nit to pick, in an otherwise impressive album. The scope may not be huge, and some may say the ambition may be somewhat lacking, but the result is an easily accessible album from a likeable group of lads. Let’s hope they’re not a one hit wonder, and they’re as popular over here as in their native Denmark.