Review: White Lies – FIVE

White Lies are back with their latest offering, ahead of a busy 2019 for the London trio. Our verdict is in on their fifth album, FIVE.

White Lies are back with their aptly named fifth album FIVE, the follow up to 2016’s Friends. With their UK tour already underway and a tour across Ireland kicking off in late March, the ‘Bigger Than Us’ trio have given fans plenty of time to get used to the new record.

FIVE sees frontman Harry McVeigh, become more emotionally open than on previous records. Delving more into the battles of dwindling relationships on opening track ‘Time to Give’ or how it doesn’t matter where in the world you are, love is still the same when singing on ‘Tokyo’.

Songwriting duties from Charles Cave shows to be some of his best to date, like on the emphatic and pulsating ‘Jo?’ as McVeigh yearns for help; “where’s your message for me Jo? Time’s not with me, don’t you know? Call me back and pick me up, take the pain and break it off…”. Urging to talk more on ‘Never Alone’, sometime’s less is more; “any modern thought is never alone…”, a short but powerful statement.

FIVE seems to be White Lies most open album yet, where the songs feel more personal than before. The heaviness of the ballad ‘Denial’, strikes a chord, when McVeigh implores he’s not in denial, trying to convince himself almost. “It’s not denial, not denial, not denial… time is a fickle thrill… There’s a kind of heat, you leave you behind when you go…”. Backed with a verbrating bass line and soaring guitars, it’s an emotianal track.

White Lies flex their artistic muscles, with the way they fuse synths with heavy guitar and bass lines, along with the slick drumming of Jack Lawrence-Brown. The melody on ‘Tokyo’, ‘Never Alone’ and lead single ‘Believe It’ are catchy and will stick in your head.

FIVE is packed with many songs that will play well live, alongside the classics that made fans fall in love with the band in the first place.

An album packed with emotion, from opening up and wanting to have someone to confide in, to the double-edged sword of remembering good times that won’t come back. They’re musically at their best, keeping it fresh, ten years on since their debut To Lose My Life.

Tracks worth putting on repeat: ‘Tokyo’, ‘Jo?’ and ‘Believe It’

Verdict: 8/10