How Beautiful Life Can Be
How Beautiful Life Can Be is the debut studio album by the English indie rock band the Lathums, released in September 2021 by record label Island Records. The album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart on 1 October 2021.[1]
| How Beautiful Life Can Be | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 24 September 2021 | |||
| Genre | Indie rock | |||
| Length | 39:00 | |||
| Label | Island Records | |||
| The Lathums chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
The band’s producer, the Coral’s James Skelly, helped create the album, which featured some of the band’s singles from 2019 and 2021. He also helped produce new songs that would appear on their debut album.
Alex Moore mentioned in an interview on Radio X that during the lockdown, where they were able to socially distance from one another, they started playing the song "Circles Of Faith", which they decided would be the opening track for their debut album. It was the first song recorded for How Beautiful Life Can Be.[2]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Moore, Concepcion, Cunliffe and Durrans.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Circles Of Faith" | 3:30 |
| 2. | "I'll Get By" | 2:31 |
| 3. | "Fight On" | 2:49 |
| 4. | "How Beautiful Life Can Be" | 2:47 |
| 5. | "The Great Escape" | 3:49 |
| 6. | "I Won't Lie" | 2:51 |
| Total length: | 18:17 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "I See Your Ghost" | 2:33 |
| 2. | "Oh My Love" | 2:23 |
| 3. | "I'll Never Forget The Time I Spent With You" | 3:14 |
| 4. | "I Know That Much" | 3:22 |
| 5. | "Artificial Screens" | 5:15 |
| 6. | "The Redemption Of Sonic Beauty" | 3:57 |
| Total length: | 20:44 | |
Notes:
- Numa Numa Yey is a cover of the song Dragostea Din Tei by the Moldavian pop group, O-Zone. (This is only available on the 'Extended Edition' on Apple Music)
Personnel
- Alex Moore - lead vocals, rhythm guitar
- Scott Concepcion - lead guitar, backing vocals, piano (track 12)
- Johnny Cunliffe - bass guitar
- Ryan Durrans - drums
Reception
The album received some positive reviews. The NME gave the album four out of five stars stating, "It’s been quite a year for them during the pandemic."[3] The Guardian gave the three out of five stars stating that "Its retro sensibility and guileless tone means How Beautiful Life Can Be is the guitar music equivalent of comfort food: undemanding, slightly stupefying, but immensely cheering all the same".[4] The Metascore on Metacritic is 72%, with four positive reviews and two mixed reviews.[5]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| The Guardian |   |
| Metacritic | 72% |
| NME |  |
References
- Copsey, Rob (1 October 2021). "The Lathums score Number 1 debut album with How Beautiful Life Can Be". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
- The Lathums break down new album How Beautiful Life Can Be | X-Posure | Radio X, retrieved 2022-06-15
- "The Lathums - 'How Beautiful Life Can Be' review: charming debut from Wigan's finest". NME. 2021-09-23. Retrieved 2022-06-15.
- "The Lathums: How Beautiful Life Can Be review – hearty 00s indie revivalism". the Guardian. 2021-09-24. Retrieved 2022-06-15.
- How Beautiful Life Can Be by The Lathums, retrieved 2022-06-15