The Rifles - Freedom Run

The Rifles - Lots of bands wear their musical lineage proudly on their sleeves but few do so as prominently as these Brit-pop rockers. Third studio full-length since their 2006 debut is a bristling amalgam of rough and tumble Jam/Clash-styled new wave/punk and hooky classic music hall songcraft recalling everything from The Kinks to Oasis...Band members have come and gone but founders Joel Stoker and Lucas Crowther continue to crank out brilliant retro-tinged rock as the creative nucleus // Release: Freedom Run (October 11, Nettwerk -- Out now digitally) // Sounds like: there may be nothing new under the sun when it comes to this particular style of jangling, high-energy, harmonied -- and distinctively English --  pop with a sharp rock edge, but few bands make it sound quite so glorious and basic simultaneously...

Quote: "...as good a guitar/pop set you'll hear all year: bright harmonies, brighter guitars, string stabs, handclaps and every songwriter trick in the book" - NME // What we like: only a curmudgeonly hipster critic could dismiss the propelled and wickedly catchy "Coming Home" -- the piano line smacking up against the wall of guitars is pure heaven...the busker-y strums of "Everline" evolve into a Rubber Soul-ish bit of Beatle choruses, harmonicas and a whip-smart back beat...DC preview track "Tangled Up In Love" gives us a little Del Amitri-meets-Oasis buzz, strings and lush vocal layers making room for the perfect short-n-sweet guitar solo. Veteran producer Chris Potter, who worked with the Verve on their string-soaked hit "Bittersweet Symphony", does a similar wide-screen production here...

The Rifles - "Coming Home" (from Freedom Run)

The Rifles -"Tangled Up In Love" (from Freedom Run)