First things first, there's nothing incredibly innovative about White Lies. Don't take that as an immediate criticism, it's just an observation. They borrow extremely heavily from Echo & The Bunnymen and Joy Division, as well as more recent acts such as Editors and Interpol. While lead singer Harry McVeigh's voice has a similar tone and rhythm to Ian Curtis, it also has it's own distinct flavour. In a similar way the places where they come across as most re-treading familiar ground they never quite flounder into plagiarism. Even on 'A Place To Hide', where they most resemble Editors recent material, the lyrical tone and darker production sets them apart. Taking influence from established and well respected acts such as E&TBM and Joy Division isn't a bad thing, and on 'To Lose My Life...' it seems to have paid off well.

'To Lose My Life' isn't a first date album, you're not going to fuck to it, you're probably not going to dance to it, you certainly won't drive to the beach in the summer to it's brooding tones. It's a winter album, an album to put on softly while you watch the rain running down the window pane in your old family house, an album to lie across the backseat and stare out at the motorway lights passing overhead to. It's an escape, a small world of melancholy and regret that you feel a part of for 45 minutes, before snapping back out into the hustle and bustle of your life. “Just give me a second darling to clear my head, just put down those scissors baby on this single bed. The sand in the hourglass is running low, I came through thunder, the cold wind, the rain, and the snow to find you awake by your windowsill. A sight for sore eyes and a view to kill”. It's certainly a lyrically a million miles away from Editors, even from Interpol. They're not going to set the world alight, and they sometimes let themselves down (“our lost love buried beneath the mud” anyone?), but McVeigh's words certainly serve to carry 'To Lose My Life...' along exceptionally well.

As an album 'To Lose My Life...' is structured impeccably, from the dark opening lines of 'Death' to the single-material of 'A Place To Hide', 'E.S.T.', and 'Farewell To The Fairground'. There's no clear filler tracks, nothing to break the flow, just a perfect undulation and slight change of feel from track to track. White Lies have come forward incredibly strongly over the last year, and this album isn't a disappointment. From this base, it'll be interesting to see where they take their sound next, but for now this is a worthy reflection of a band suitably entwined in the past yet justifying their existence in the present.

"To Lose My Life..." is out from today (19/1/2009) on Fiction. White Lies play the NME Awards Tour with Glasvegas, Friendly Fires, and Florence & The Machine; hitting Engine Shed, Lincoln on 10th February. Buy tickets online here.

[YOUTUBE] White Lies - To Lose My Life
[MOV] White Lies - Death
[MYSPACE] Visit White Lies on myspace.
[LABEL] Find out more about Fiction Records.