Review By Edward Short

Gareth Icke, the son of infamous public speaker David Icke, releases his second long player on September 17th. The first single from the album came in the form of 'Remember Who You Are', a catchy, Snow Patrol-esque song that fully displays Ickes finer qualities as a song writer, and singer.

Gareth’s voice is, in a word, unique, and whilst comparisons can certainly be made regarding the actual music, his voice is all his own. The album kicks off with the 'Adrianne', a tale of love, perhaps gone stale, perhaps never meant to be, complete with a lush chorus and searing guitar melody.

'Satellites + Wires' is another pacey work, reflective and extremely easy on the ears. ''Sets your mind on fire''... sings Gareth in a that one in a million voice, and you’re carried along willingly to the almost folky sounding 'Beat Up', I imagine its the kind of the song you'd hear Bob Marley write if he were still with is. At this point in the album, you know you’re listening to a classic talent, someone who has it all and is giving it their all.

'A Brand New Battle' is a slower more relaxed work, and Gareth’s voice fills it up nicely, with a slow building up of atmosphere, this is true song writing as a craft, and Gareth’s mastered it.

'Paint The Town Red' is a steady melodic number that betrays some very deep lyrics. It seems to be about uncertainty, identity and moving into a more positive state of mind, in fact, if I were to be asked what this albums overriding theme was, it'd be transcendental harmony after the fact, and that's perfectly fine with me.

'What’s Love Without Meaning' is a top 20 single easily, and if it gets half the airtime it deserves it'll be the chart success it was born to be. 'Growing Pains' is this writer’s personal favourite here; theme wise seems to be in keeping with the albums sentiments.

With this new album 'A Brand New Battle', Gareth proves he is a major emerging songwriter, his music can stand up against the biggest names in the industry, let’s hope he's one of those names very soon, because based on his work; he has every right to be!!

Gareth’s new album is out in stores on 17th September, for more info visit his website at

www.garethicke.com