In their biography (or 'animalography' as they prefer to call it), Raised By Animals claim to be 'a
little bit removed from their peers' a claim new bands often make, but in this case it's actually true.
The off-kilter country rock of opener Talkin' Circles threatens to burst into life from the outset
but remains nicely low-key and manages to confound the listeners' expectations on a number of occasions.
The repeating 'woo-ooh' vocal melody sounds like it should be a cliché but its curious delivery
and slight mistiming give it a compelling effect. The sing-along chorus "one drink too many and you
think you know me" seems to gesture towards the song kick-starting but before long it knowingly slips
back into the vocal refrain and the understated verse. The backing vocals are used to excellent effect
to reiterate the strange lethargic feel (although the pace is actually fairly quick) and suggest that
this would be the perfect song to help waste away a hazy summer day.
The verses of You Said... sound strangely like the verses of Soundgarden's 'Black Hole Sun' but, again,
Raised By Animals keep it remarkably understated where Soundgarden go for overblown. The chorus simply
chugs along with a stop/start riff and extra backing vocals not much else changes. A fantastic vocal
performance and another sense that the band are deliberately holding something back makes for a fascinating listen.
The intro and first verse of Firefly sound initially like that of a typical 80s rock power ballad
but yet again what sounds like a cliché is actually cleverly turned around by the band and they
end up sounding like 60s band Love. The chorus of this is track is perhaps the only disappointing part
of the whole demo simply because it does sound like you might expect but, with so much of this demo
proving difficult to pinpoint, it's easy to forgive them.
Whether its through meticulous musicianship or just a knack, Raised By Animals certainly manage to
sound removed from their peers and, in fact, from most groups full stop.
