Glasvegas are a Scottish indie rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. The band consists of James Allan (vocals), Rab Allan (lead guitar), Paul Donoghue (bass guitar) and Jonna L?fgren (drums). The band received critical acclaim for their debut album Glasvegas which was released in September 2008, reaching No.?2 in the UK Album Charts and was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in September 2009. The NME declared, 'If The Libertines defined the start of the decade and Arctic Monkeys its middle, then Glasvegas are almost certainly going to define its end and beyond.

• Glasvegas
• Euphoric Heartbreak

Their debut album went on to enjoy success in the UK (where it went Platinum) and in Sweden (where it went Gold). The impact of the band in the UK and success of their debut album did not go unnoticed in North America, which saw the band tour an unprecedented six times between October 2008 and September 2009. The band have mentioned on many occasions during interviews of their commitment to making the breakthrough in the USA and Canada. On 14 December 2010, the band announced the appointment of their new drummer, Jonna L?fgren from Boden in Sweden.

Find album reviews, stream songs, credits and award information for Euphoric Heartbreak - Glasvegas on AllMusic - 2011 - Scottish alt-rockers Glasvegas' 2008 debut. The quartet's sophomore album, Euphoric Heartbreak, displays the epic differences between recording one's debut album at Brooklyn Recording Studios, New York, and its.

Glasvegas's second album /// Euphoric Heartbreak was released on 4 April 2011 reaching No.10 in the UK and No.1 in Sweden, receiving critical acclaim. The band then moved onto their biggest headline European tour to date in April/May 2011. The highlight of the tour came on the 19th May 2011 when Glasvegas headlined and sold out the 3500 capacity Globans Annex in Stockholm. A seventh tour of the USA was followed by a first visit to Australia in July/August 2011. In October 2011 the band were asked by U2 to cover Acrobat for the 20th Anniversary of Achtung Baby.

The album was called AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered and was released by Q magazine. In 2012 the band made their first trip to China and an intimate tour of the UK has been announced for December 2012.

The band have announced plans to release a 3rd album in 2013 on their own label.

Glasvegas - EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK ' Glasvegas gun for a conceptual masterpiece but end up shooting themselves in the foot. As soon as you pick up a copy of Glasvegas’ new effort, you know things have changed.

An orange-hued picture of Marilyn Monroe replaces the stark black’n’white sketch of fierce winds and stormy clouds. It’s warmer, lighter, and almost melts in your hand. Of course, the proof is in the pudding, and from the first track it’s clear this isn’t just a new image, but a new sound too. Pain Pain Never Again sets us up with spoken word over some brewing, ambient electronics. The band dabbled in spoken word last outing with Stabbed, but that was about, well, stabbing – a crisp Glaswegian social commentary over a haunting piano piece from Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. Now though, romanticism replaces retribution, and looping French phrases try to woo us as much as the piano used to cut us. When the song closes dead on the 3 minute mark, one thing is clear: this is a concept album.

It’s a simple concept, and beautiful too: that love, even when it’s full of pain and heartbreak, is fundamentally a positive emotion that should bring joy, happiness, and yes, euphoria. Their stylised title, full of slashes and backslashes, represents this – as frontman and singer James Allan explains, it’s “the ascent, the crest of a wave, and then the crash”. It’s an album of two opposing yet related themes; a band summoning of all the complexity of love. It’s a shame then for an album with so much potential, and a band who’ve always shown such promise, that Glasvegas fall short of pulling it off. Yes, there’s some great songs here – Whatever Hurts You Through the Night is right up there with It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry (loved by everyone with ears) – but concept comes at the expense of their best. Instead we get the set-up piece Pain Pain, the two parts of Homosexuality, and the outro Change, which simply don’t have the payoff, either by themselves or in the greater album structure, to be worth the listener’s time. We also get a new sound, and to give Glasvegas their dues, they’ve matched it perfectly to the concept.

Glasvegas

Where once there was the odd ray of light – that chime, this bell – all the bits of silver percussion are now dished out to all the songs, giving the whole thing a glistening, shimmering texture. There’s not the darkness of before, but a shining light; it’s tear-coated with both joy and pain. Even the often sullen, grunging guitars now climb and bloom and sound frankly carefree, like they had a good day at the creche hanging out with riffs from This Orient and other great Foals’ moments. “James Allan’s striking, powerful Glaswegian accent sounds more like a pubescent boy yodelling” Ultimately though it’s not a step forwards, nor one backwards. It’s a rebrand; a deliberate effort at a fresh start. You can understand why.

The band’s been through a lot, what with Allan’s well-publicised drug and substance abuse. The problem is that no one seems to have told Allan. Consistently, his lyrics and vocal style are at odds with the music; consistently he is heartbreak and the band euphoric, or worse, neutral.

They tick the boxes for the concept, but don’t affect or express it. Axion dpf 8505pt manual muscle. The result is an album that shows no hint of a band that’s grown or metamorphosed, more a new producer with new sounds. At times as well, the whole band seems to be parodying themselves. Take for example Allan’s striking, powerful Glaswegian accent, which on lead single Euphoria, Take My Hand sounds more like a pubescent boy yodelling, and breaking. Their wall of sound is even more impenetrable, at times to the point of alienation, with the bass and lead intertwining all too often, to the detriment of both (like on pre-release freebie The World is Yours). What we want is an album that plays like Lots Sometimes, by far the album’s best track, or equally, Dream Dream Dreaming. Both marry the sound to the singer, and together they guide us up and over that wave.

In Lots Sometimes, the lyrics flit between the euphoric and the dispondent: “It makes me sad when I think about you lots sometimes/It makes me laugh out loud when I think of you lots sometimes”, and the music grows grander, cuts out, before growing again. We even get some conceptual payoff with a home recording of “Happy Birthday” giving an eerie, reflective ending. It’s one of the rare times that Glasvegas step up and show us how both pain and joy embody love. It’s the complex middle ground that actually matters, in an album that’s dominated by conflicting extremes. It’s not that rebranding is bad, or that concept albums are bad, or even that going for both is overambitious or unachievable. In fact, I’m a fan of both, and hell, MGMT managed it with their second outing.

It’s just that here, Glasvegas fail to muster the musical gusto necessary – the rebranding is no more than that, and in the end you feel Glasvegas just haven’t achieved everything this album should be. They’ve achieved a lot, but not quite enough. Critical: 3/5 Personal: 4/5 Pick: Lots Sometimes, Whatever Hurts You Through The Night, Dream Dream Dreaming, Euphoria Take My Hand, The World Is Yours Tracklisting: 1.

Euphoric Heartbreak

Pain Pain, Never Again 2. The World Is Yours 3. Shine Like Stars 5. Whatever Hurts You Through The Night 6. Stronger Than Dirt (Homosexuality, Pt. Dream Dream Dreaming 8.

I Feel Wrong (Homosexuality, Pt. Euphoria, Take My Hand 10. Lots Sometimes 11.