The Lathums – From Nothing to a Little Bit More Review

Could nothing be multiplied by anything, let alone a little? The Lathums go on and find out. Their twee and upbeat jangles, the Britpop-meets-The Smiths of Lucky Bean stick out most of all on an album that hopes to reflect with obvious and docile intent. Someone listened to Sam Fender on Seventeen Going Under. That powerful piece of colloquial intent, masterfully written and dependent on the unique charms of the singer whose experience and life are at the heart of it, is drawn on here. Broad riffs and bullied meaning that fall on From Nothing to a Little Bit More comes from a place of good intention but of relatively drab and unconvincing jangle pop.  

Remembering the things that made him smile on acceptable opener Struggle sets the intimate tone The Lathums are striking for. Despite coming from a place of honesty it is hard to extrapolate anything of uniqueness. Little bits and pieces are coming through every now and then. Say My Name has a fruitful guitar work but finds itself drowned out by the vague thematics and heavy focus on drums. By the time some decent riffs come through, the repetition of the title has taken its toll. Unmoving simplicity dominates those songs used as singles. I Know Pt 1 and Lucky Bean show The Lathums are still chasing their idols. Until they shake that feeling, the Morrissey croons coupled with the desire to give in to modern indie beats from the UK means The Lathums have little of their own to present. 

Very light moments hope to capitalise on the previous success of those opening their personal lives to music. It is a saga as old as time but The Lathums, as they often find themselves, are a step behind. Fender charted it, Arctic Monkeys pipped them with The Car, and now The Lathums are where they always are. Behind. I Know Pt 1 is a cast-aside Morrissey track that implements the interjections of The Four Seasons in a love track bleeding with obvious intensity and ineffective lyrics. Nostalgia pop pieces for fans of The Smiths, those that wished Thank You Mr Shankly had been the one and only style they offered. The Lathums are, for now, a one-trick act. It is just reassuring that their one trick is listenable, in the same sense that The Lumineers are listenable.  

One-note wonders of topical times in the lives of a band now projecting themselves and their images to growing audiences. Not much power on this third release from The Lathums, and although From Nothing to a Little Bit More does, indeed, chart a little bit more, it does not contain enough to warrant a change of pace or praise to the high heavens. Too light for its own good at times. Weightless offerings from later tracks Turmoil and Land and Sky are fascinatingly out of place considering the heavier potential of their titles and lyrics. The Lathums have trouble connecting their tone and message with their playing abilities, all of which are competent and confident, as evidenced by the eight-minute ender Undeserving. Not the best of ways to end an album where success is shared with what the title infers.