It's a rare thing when a new band comes out with a debut album that makes you think "They are definitely going to be huge." Usually (And especially there days) a band will come out with an album which has a couple of good tunes and everyone thinks they are great. I'd like to take you back to a time, not too long ago, when good bands, were good bands. Love Is Here by Starsailor was released in the fall of 2001 and climbed the UK charts to reach it's peak position of #2. This success meant a lot of celebration for the band, and it was very well deserved.

Love Is Here fuses all the emotions of being in love, and the pain we feel when we love someone who we know in our hearts, will never love us back. This is deep song writing, and most of the album seems to be based around this theme, giving the whole album a very strong song writing edge. The lyrics are meaningful, and judging from the emotion in lead singer James Walsh’s voice, are also very personal. The music too, is very good; the band consists of guitars, bass, drums and piano, the standard rock band line-up, but it works very well. The soaring piano melodies create a musical fusion with the voice and acoustic guitar. The rhythm section work well enough together to give the music both melody and a driving force, full of feeling.

Singer James Walsh also has a unique voice - Something else which is quite rare these days. Trying to compare him to other singers is a very difficult task, Walsh has one of those voices which is instantly recognisable, as soon as you hear him singing, you know it’s Starsailor. If you had to compare Walsh to another singer, it would have to be REM’s Michael Stipe. Not because he sounds almost exactly like him, but because he has the same kind of voice as a famous person has a recognisable face.

The album art is thought-provoking. It’s a photograph of an old wooden train track at sunset. The person who took this photo is standing in the middle of the train track and when you look at the photo you seem to imagine that it is you walking along this track. Keeping this in mind you imagine that you walk on this path to clear your mind and think about things. This keeps with the theme of the album, because the person who is walking must be thinking about the problems he is having with love. Being in love with two people at the same time, and loving one of them who you know deep down, you can never be with.

Track one is called “Tie Up My Hands”. It begins with an atmospheric acoustic guitar and a bass drum keeping the beat. Walsh’s haunting voice comes in to sing of the woman who remains the theme of the album. The song continues to creepily build up into a more upbeat sound but never really taking off until the end of the song. The words “I wanna love you, but my hands are tied” remain the beginning of a triumphant chorus of heartbreaking vocals.

The next song is “Poor Misguided Fool”, and it seems to be more about the singer realising that he is wrong and he should try to bottle up these feelings, or throw them away. The piano is featured more prominently in this battle between two minds of the same person, debating about what to do with themselves. The electric guitar is also heard for the first time in the album, emphasising the burning urgent feeling to this song.

“Alcoholic” is next, and this one stops the album from being a concept album. The story to this one is about the singer’s father, who used to be an alcoholic, and that he might be turning the same way. The song is strangely structured into just one verse repeated three times throughout the whole song. Although this might still be related to the theme’s of the other songs, turning to alcoholism as a way of dealing with his love problems. The song is mostly piano and vocals, although drums and acoustic guitar are also featured.

The sweet sounding “Lullaby” is next. This is the first bright sounding song on the album, possibly a reminiscence of better times. The piano is again prominent throughout, and it’s a very nice sound this time instead of the darker piano of the previous tracks. The electric guitar plays nice little guitar fills over the distant rhythm of the acoustic guitar, then has a little solo towards the end, where Walsh shows off his higher range.

“Way To Fall” was used in the ending to popular video game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. This one gets dark again, and seems to be another song where the singer is talking to himself. The excellent musicianship throughout the entire song gives this one a brilliant sound, keeping moody all the way through, as Walsh bellows that he has “Something is his throat”. Something he wishes to say, but just can’t. It’s easy to see why this was chosen for the ending to Metal Gear Solid 3, the mood throughout is very dramatic, and when it gets to the ending, it will leave the listener speechless yet wanting more. You will feel the hairs on your skin rise up upon listening to this.

Track six is called “Fever”, the next painful account of deep feelings which are hard to find the words to describe. This time, the singer is talking to the girl, but only in the chorus. The verses are full of the singer talking to himself again. This one really lets you know how he is feeling, the pain and anguish he feels about this woman. It sounds almost hopeless in the verse, to going quite angry in the chorus, sounding rebellious, and really giving off an impression.

“She Just Wept” is the most heartbreaking song on the album. It’s either about breaking up with someone to be with someone else, or that someone else having a conversation with the singer about how their feelings are mutual. There are dynamite lyrics in this song which make you almost put on his shoes, and become him, in his world of pain, where he doesn’t know how to approach the woman who is weeping. It features nothing much more than an acoustic guitar and vocals, with excellent use of organ sounds on a keyboard. The lyrics “Daddy I’ve got nothing left, my life is good, my love’s a mess” are a look back at “Alcoholic”. One can only presume that the singer’s father is dead, yet he is the one he looks to for help in his messed up love life.

The next song is called “Talk Her Down”. The album becomes more upbeat again, and more crying out for help, in a desperate state of mind. Again, this one sounds somewhat rebellious, as if he doesn’t like a particular decision that has been made. A great combination of the vocals, drums, and slightly different sounding piano, with trills and various ornaments to help set this song’s mood. This track gives the listener the feeling that Walsh is rising up and defending himself again.

“Love Is Here” is another particularly heartbreaking album, which sounds like the singers final attempt to reach out to the one he loves. The lyrics begin with “If you could see the lover in me…” and the chorus desperately asks “Can you feel it? Love is here…”. This track will take you into the singers world where he is lost in his emotions and feelings and not really trying to find a way out anymore, and settling for “What he’s got”. A simply amazing song, both lyrically and musically, this one will bring a tear to the more sentimental listener.

“Good Souls” will cheer you up again, because no matter how down you get, your friends are there to help and support you. This is one of those songs that feels like it is used near the end of the band’s gigs. After so much darkness and sorrow, things brighten up and we “Thank goodness for the good souls, that make life better”. This would be a very nice way to end the album, but it works just as well second to last, as the final track “Coming Down” feels more like a secret track. “Coming Down” is an acoustic song by the lead singer which features a perfect harmony of the whole band in the background. When the song ends, and the minutes keep counting, a secret track has one attempt at these backing vocals, where Walsh messed up and all he could do was laugh very loudly.

Altogether, Love Is Here is an absolutely beautiful album which will be listened to for many years to come. From start to finish, the album tells the tragic story of how the singer falls in love with two people at once, has to make a choice, but knows that either way, his choice will hurt people. Each song deals with a particular stage in this process, and I think that all of us have been in at least one situation that the singer describes in this album. The main focus of Love Is Here is definitely the amazing lyrics, but the musicality is brilliantly presented here too.

Every song is really good, and you don’t find that in most albums. The constant emotion that fills this album in each song is something hard to produce. Upon hearing, the listener is able to tell that there are no songs which have been thrown in simply to fill up the minutes of the album. Each and every song has been cleverly thought-out, and musically shaped into a beautiful piece of work. It’s hard to find a band like Starsailor, and although the two follow-ups aren’t as strong, Starsailor remain one of the finer bands of previous years.