What do Erica Kane and Brit Pop have in common?

My friends and family who know me well know that my ultimate guilty pleasure is the ABC soap, All My Children. Truthfully, I have been exposed to this show since I was in my mother's womb. (And now, with the advent of my life-altering DVR, every delicious episode is ready and waiting for me when I come home at night.) So today, I almost fell off the couch when the typically mundane reflection scene (in which many of the characters at their individual crossroad situations are shown to be thoughtfully pontificating their next move) at the end of the show featured the new Travis single, "Closer." I mean, talk about two great things that taste great together! It actually provoked me to write a blog post revealing my shameful delight to the world (or rather, to the 15 people that actually read this blog regularly.)



On that note, let me tell you about the new Travis album which came out on May 7.

But first, some background: If you are unfamiliar with this band, they are from Glasgow, Scotland, and they really were the forerunners of the whole Coldplay frenzy, also seen as the "sensitive stadium rock" thing in America and the UK. (This particular phrase was stolen from a Guardian article that talked about a recent Travis show in London, but most rock scholars agree that Travis was doing the Coldplay thang long before Martin and Co. came along. An Independent article says that Travis were able to take Radiohead's moody brooding style and Brit-pop-ify it.) Anyway, Travis have always been huge in the UK, but not so much on this side of the pond. It's a shame, really, because these guys are really poignant, write good melodic pop songs, and are even smartly humorous at the same time. Their biggest US hit was a song called "Why Does it Always Rain on Me?" which, incidentally, John Mayer used to cover when he played at Eddie's Attic in Decatur, GA to crowds of 15 people back in the early '00s. (I don't know why I just threw that tidbit in.)

Travis took a break of about 18 months since they last went on tour. During that time, the band wrote and recorded new songs, and welcomed new members into their families. Their last album, 12 Memories, was more politically charged than their earlier work, and the industry deemed it a mainstream failure. (I thought it was a really good record, myself, but it was definitely deeper and darker than their usual stuff.) So there was a bit of buzz around Travis's latest effort, The Boy With No Name. Would they be able to come back to their early '00s glory?

The album does have a bit of a throwback to earlier musical styles, but the lyrics are more mature and insightful than The Man Who or The Invisible Band and certainly more than 1997's, Good Feeling, which is just a fun album. On the latest record, many of the songs are influenced by singer Fran Healy's newly acquired fatherhood status, and the feeling of despondence which was present on 12 Memories is replaced with the nice feelings of joy and pride.

On a different note, my fabulous friend, Carolee, got tickets to a sold-out industry concert in London back in March. It was one of three shows that Travis were doing before the album came out, and it was at a significantly smaller club than the band usually played. I have followed this band since college (ages ago!), and this was my first time seeing them live. It was a treat like nothing else for me. The band members were in great spirits and played many new songs intertwined with some old favorites. The show was quite well-received, but it was obvious that the audience was full of solid fans. The most interesting thing that I noticed was that everyone seemed to be able to sing along with the single, "Closer" even though the album hadn't come out yet. Ah, the joys of the internet.

I think that The Boy is selling pretty well so far, and I have heard the single on the radio and in the background of a couple of TV shows or commercials. That's a pretty good sign, but nothing says MAINSTREAM more than your song being featured on an American soap opera! (Note to AMC producers: This almost redeems your decision to kill off Dixie.)



(Side note: The Rosebuds' new album Night of the Furies is pretty good also. **Marge, this one's for you. You know how those North Carolina bands just rock.** Check them out if you haven't yet.)

Photos courtesy of ABC, Travis, and The Rosebuds.