Travis - The Invisible Band
Independiente  (2001)
Alternative & Punk, Brit Pop

In Collection
#650

0*
CD  55:26
12 tracks
Sing 01             03:49
Dear Diary 02             02:57
Side 03             03:59
Pipe Dreams 04             04:06
Flowers In The Windows 05             03:42
The Cage 06             03:06
Safe 07             04:23
Follow The Light 08             03:09
Last Train 09             03:16
Afterglow 10             04:06
Indefinitely 11             03:53
The Humpty Dumpty Love Song 12             15:00
Personal Details
Location Home
Details
Spars DDD
Sound Stereo
Notes
Date of US Release June 12, 2001

After the momentous success achieved with their sophomore effort (The Man Who), Travis' return to melodic rock & roll with The Invisible Band is once again personal and earnest. Having spent most of 2000 supporting Oasis and playing their own headlining gigs in the States, Travis remained humble while collecting a dozen solid tracks for another album, most of them plucked from Fran Healy's own humming and tinkering around with an acoustic. The Invisible Band finds Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck, Neil Finn) mixing and mastering again, and vulnerability found within these songs is what makes Travis a decent band. They are not afraid to be catchy and they're certainly suckers for a sweet love tune. But Travis is conscious of the unconscious and reflects any kind of lyrical emotion. Debut single "Sing" is charming while addressing being inhibited within a relationship. The banjo is a nice touch, for it becomes a mainstay throughout and adds a slightly different touch versus the simplicities of an acoustic. "Side" and "Flowers in the Dirt" are instantly endearing with their Beatlesque hooks, but "The Humpty Dumpty Love Song" is Travis' finest moment of musical clarity with Healy's heart on his sleeve. Written while on tour with Oasis, "The Humpty Dumpty Love Song" reflects a hero's fading fervor of love lost - "All the kings horses and all the kings men/Couldn't pull my heart back together again/All the physicians and mathematicians too/Failed to stop my heart from breaking in two." Indeed, Travis is the basic man's poets and The Invisible Band plays toward the simplicities of humility. They've done it again, but with more internal charisma. The Man Who took them from indie angst to melodic humdrum. The Invisible Band perfects the ever-changing growth within the band for something great.�