It’s difficult to pin down exactly what it is about Yorkshire teens One Night Only that has led them to receive some quite considerable recommendations. Tipped by Jo Whiley as ones to watch in 2008, the band must be disappointed with reviews of Started a Fire, featuring such epithets as ‘rather boring’ and ‘harmless.’ Such critiques form a damning verdict for any young band in the face of much cooler competition from their peers, the likes of nu-rave wannabes Good Shoes and Pull Tiger Tail!
However, whilst flagship track ‘Just for Tonight’ is not quite the ‘epic, balls-out indie rock’ that its promoters would have us believe, its opening bars are undoubtedly catchy and you can begin to understand the low-level hype that still surrounds them. Chris Moyles’ comparison between this and ‘Ashes’ by Embrace is probably the best I can think of, with the anthemic ‘Just for Tonight’ and ‘He’s There’ being the best examples of the album’s characteristic indie pop.
Debut single ‘You and Me’ shows a quirkier, jauntier side that is echoed in ‘He’s There’ and just about discernable in ‘It’s About Time’, but doesn’t quite go far enough. Unfortunately, the record then plods through a couple of bog-standard indie ballads; ‘Time’ and ‘Sweet Sugar’ (‘you are my C6H12O6’), which exist only as poorly-written filler.
Started a Fire contains a couple of interesting, catchy tracks that do a good job of putting keys and synths into the mix and will set a few feet tapping. George Craig undoubtedly has a good voice and his band some degree of talent, but it’s not quite come together in this repetitive and on the whole indifferent debut. Yet there remains a potential that may be worth watching.by Benjamin Ives
