The fourth studio album from
the Feeling, 2013's
Boy Cried Wolf, features more of the British group's melodic, passionate rock. Produced by the bandmembers themselves, the album follows up their 2011 album,
Together We Were Made. It also comes after the best-of collection
Singles (2006-2011). Recorded after the breakup of lead singer/songwriter
Dan Gillespie Sells' five-year relationship, the album finds the band combining its anthemic pop with a newfound depth of emotion. These are deeply romantic yet often terribly sad songs in which the band frames
Sells' resonant voice with lots of dramatic piano, chiming guitars, and backing vocals. On the poignant yet triumphant "Anchor,"
Sells opines "I fear mirrors and lights/It's been a long day/I'm scared of looking behind/'Cuz we've come such a long way." In that sense, tracks like "Anchor," "Blue Murder," and the sparkling "Fall Like Rain" walk a line between the guitar rock of
U2 and the theatrical pomp rock of artists like
Queen and
Meat Loaf. Elsewhere,
Sells conjures the ghost of
Harry Nilsson on the sweetly lyrical "A Lost Home," and gives
Mumford & Sons a run for their folk-rock money on the motivational "Rescue." Ultimately,
Boy Cried Wolf is an immaculately crafted production that should appeal to
the Feeling's longtime fans. ~ Matt Collar