Django Django are masters at producing exciting and evocative psychedelic anthems for their fans and are back this year with the confident release of their second album Born Under Saturn. The band has improved upon the prog-rock sounds of their mercury nominated self-titled album released back in 2012. Born Under Saturn was produced by the band’s drummer, Dave Maclean, and it consists of 13 songs lasting for a total of 56 minutes. The enchanting Born Under Saturn is a great accompaniment to any car journey and has tracks worthy of overplaying!
Django Django, Born Under Saturn
‘Giant,’ the first track on the album, borrows Tame Impala esque psychedelic earthy beats and dramatic piano chords throughout. This track has stayed true to the recognisable sound of Django Djnago and grandly welcomes the listener to the band’s inventive new material.
‘Shake and Tremble’ is the second track from the album. This is definitely a favourite of mine and I can imagine it will be sampled on lots of summer time playlists and TV adverts in the near future. ‘Shake and Tremble’ has elements of The Black Keys within it, using western-styled guitar riffs while again stays true to the band’s distinctive sound.
‘Found You’ follows ‘Shake and Tremble’ but doesn’t quite have what it takes to match the intelligence and creativity of the previous song. The track loses momentum and feels quite dreary, acting as a filler track for the album. Disappointingly there is not much about the song despite the promising beginning that suggests it will build up, but it never seems to do so.
Similar to ‘Found You’, ‘First Light’ lacks luster. But unlike the disappointment before it, ‘First Light’ flows into a more interesting composition and is the first single that was lifted from the album.
‘Pause Repeat’ lifts a similar sounding drum beat to ‘Default,’ a track from the band’s self-titled 2012 debut album. ‘Default’ seems to be a feeding ground for inspiration as a lot of the songs on this album borrow qualities from the successful track, which has over 11,000 plays on Spotify.
‘Reflections’ offers a perfect blend of vocals over the catchy Django Django steel drum beat. The echo of the vocals rides over the music in perfect harmony that will sing in the ears of its listeners. The songs quirky synth patterns and saxophone accompaniment radiates cool and gives this track that added kick, the something extra that the album needs at this point.
‘Vibrations’ is a track that I definitely do not favour, it’s one to skip through in my opinion. This pseudo track definitely tries too hard and doesn’t fit with the other great tracks produced by the band.
‘Shot Down’ – listening to the album as a whole this track definitely follows suit and compliments the other tracks on the album.
‘High Moon’ has dreamy vocals that compliment the Julian Casablancas esque synth from ‘Four Chords of the Apocalypse.’ The song subtly showcases Vincent Neff’s gentle Edinburgh accent and works very well with the track.
‘Beginning To Fade’ is a slower tune but is just as good as the faster tracks. The melodic soothing lightheartedness of this track definitely makes it one of my favourites from the album. Being the 10th song from a 13-track album it starts to round up the album and bring it to an end in a reflective and creative way.
‘4000 Years’ is a typical Django Django song equipped with cowbells and a dance undercurrent married with the recognizable western guitar sounds, topped off with powerful vocals. However, the exit to this song sounds a bit too clamored and goes on for 10 seconds too long. Fading the song out gradually would sound better than this abrupt finish.
‘Break The Glass’ is another typical Django track. The track is good but offers nothing new and stays safe by recreating and copying sounds that have already been used multiple times over during the course of the album. Again, another track that ends with a clumsy, strung out close, although it does manage to slide effortlessly into the final track of the album.
‘Life We Know’ is the last song on the album and is a nice upbeat summery song that completes the album and ends it on a high.
Overall I would definitely recommend that you give this album a listen. It is one of the best albums that I’ve listened to this month despite its flaws along the way. Born Under Saturn will certainly soundtrack my summer this year.
What do you think of Born Under Saturn? Let us know in the comments below!
