Music for the People

Rock · 2009 · 14 tracks · 56m

Music for the People

Polished indie-rock anthems that trade the raw grit of the debut for stadium-sized strings and defiant, working-class choruses built for the masses.

April 22, 2009 · Warner Bros. Records

Music for the People is an album that wears its heart and its ambition on its sleeve. It represents the moment a band moves from the sweaty clubs of their hometown to the massive, open-air stages of the festival circuit. While the core of the sound remains rooted in the mod-influenced indie rock of the late 2000s, there is a new, cinematic layer here. The addition of strings and more complex arrangements suggests a band trying to capture the 'big' feeling of their heroes like Oasis or The Jam, but with a modern, aggressive edge that feels uniquely theirs.

Tracklist · 14 Tracks · 56m

01

Elephant Song

4:10

02

No Time for Tears

5:13

03

51st State

2:30

04

Sing When You're in Love

3:38

05

Last Goodbye

4:52

06

Nation of Checkout Girls

3:14

07

Be Somebody

3:04

08

Don't Break the Red Tape

3:43

09

Keep Losing

4:36

10

Silver Spoon

7:39

11

A New England

2:51

12

Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)

2:54

13

Keep Losing (strings version)

4:32

14

Away From Here (Live From Union Chapel)

3:28

Moments Worth Listening For

The sudden swell of the orchestra on No Time for Tears that transforms a standard indie riff into a widescreen anthem.

The way the drums crash back in after the bridge on Sing When You're Winning, demanding a collective jump from the crowd.

The acoustic vulnerability of Silver Spoon providing a brief, stark contrast to the album's otherwise relentless wall of sound.

Reviews

AllMusic

BBC Music

Where This Album Departs

How does Music for the People sound next to the rest of The Enemy's catalogue?

High Energy-0.9σ

It runs a touch cooler and more held-back than this artist's baseline.

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