Yahoo! Music Review

Released on 07/05/07
Label: Independiente

So, what took you so long? In the four years since the release of "12 Memories", Travis have seen their position as the 'Arbiters Of Nice' decidedly usurped by strains of blandness so pedestrian and interminably dull - hello Snow Patrol, Keane and James Blunt - that their return is almost welcome. Although it's tempting to lay the blame at the feet of Travis for such somnambulistic gruel, it is worth remembering that at the tail end of the last decade Fran Healy and co were an infinitely preferable option to the rest of the traffic cluttering up the middle of the road.

However, Travis' decline has been slow and painful. If Healy's domesticity removed whatever bite he had left in the form of their last album, then reproduction has clearly neutered any spirit left as "The Boy With No Name" settles down with a pipe and slippers in front of the fire after a bout of nappy changing.

As evidenced here, Travis have entered a comfort zone that, while providing security for the protagonists, is of very little interest to those looking from the outside in. Admittedly, there are flashes of magic. Current single "Closer" displays the band's winning way with a melody, while the unashamedly upbeat "Selfish Jean" would sit comfortably with their finer moments. But after "Battleships"'s last hurrah, the album's descent into mediocrity is swift and merciless.

Having waited such a prolonged period of time for new material, "The Boy With No Name" offers scant reward for anybody's patience. Rarely shifting beyond second gear - see "My Eyes" or "Out In Space" for proof - the sensation of being stuck behind a Sunday driver on a single track road is convincingly evoked as Travis strum endlessly, relentlessly. The lyrical triteness will have you reaching for the cocoa in no time. "New Amsterdam" is no more than a list of the Big Apple's luminaries and the refrain of "They meet on Bleeker Street / Or the park that is central" is criminally sloppy.

Four years is a long time to hang around for new music and Travis' major faux pas isn't the one-dimensional nature of the music but the total lack of any new ideas. There are no surprises or unexpected turns and the overall dearth of spontaneity ensures an empty and shallow experience. More worrying for the band is that it's unlikely anyone would notice if they vanished for another extended break.

    by Julian Marszalek