Listening to ‘El Matador’ is similar to feeling like you’ve been somewhere before. Within the borders of their new single release, The Lines strive in an over-the-top manner to emulate Kasabian, but instead achieve themselves a poor man’s Reverend And the Makers comparison.
El Matador strikes us with jangly guitars, confident vocal content and promising drum technique, giving us a tasteful change to the repeatative high hat and snare scenarios we hear in indie-dance tunes. However a cow bell appearance in the middle eight seems to remind us of a scene that we have already been excited about and gotten over.
The song builds up to a climax that doesn’t quite reach it’s potential. The chorus lacks a catchy melody, and the buzz of the roughly-produced indie tune seems to have no origin.
Don’t get me wrong. On paper this is a song that ticks a lot of boxes, but there is a noticeable lack of depth and purpose. If this were brought to the table five years ago, we’d have a massive hit on our hands. But that’s just the point. We’ve experienced all of this before. Boys, this is less El matador. More El desperado.
