New Travis - "Big Chair"
The man who made Travis into something of a '90s Brit phenomenon, producer extraordinaire Nigel Godrich, is back at the helm for the band's forthcoming, fifth full-length. You're allowed to have stopped paying attention after The Invisible Band (we did), but with Godrich and Brian Eno at the helm, that's crumbelievable. Here's the first single from the untitled effort -- karaoke style! (All it needs is unrelated, '80s shots of horses running through fields of glistening grass.) A little yearning falsetto, some somber piano lines tracing the melody ... watch yer back, Keane.
Posted at 4:43 PM in Video
Tags: Brian Eno | Nigel Godrich | Travis
nice song -- but if you are going to post about them at least do your research. travis is not british. cheers.
Score = 0
Can't wait for the new record. Their last full length was a let down after the brilliance of "The Invisible Band."
Score = 0
I didn't like this song, but I love 12 Memories.. so meh
Score = 0
I love 12 Memories as well. It's just different from The Invisible Band.
Oh and Travis, he didn't say they were British. He said Nigel Godrich made them a '90's Brit Phenomenon'. Which is true. They were big in Britain. Think before you type.
Score = 0
Travis isn't British? Is Scotland no longer part of Britain then?
Score = 0
i like it! gosh, i used to be obsessed w/ them back in the day
Score = 0
K people...brits are from great britain...english are from England. Is that clear?
Score = 0
They lost me on "I heart everything about you"...When did they start using emo lyrics?
Score = 0
Britain = Scotland, England, Wales, & Northern Ireland.
Travis = Scottish & British.
Score = 0
The new album is called OPEN, and Chris Martin played the song last night on Radio 1. from BBC:
Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, has praised Scottish rockers Travis for having a big influence on young musicians and credited them for the creation of their band.
Martin appeared on a radio show and unveiled Travis' new song 'Big chair', reports contactmusic.com.
Martin said: 'We're gonna finish with an incredible exclusive, we're very privileged to play it, it's a new song by the band Travis, the band that invented my band and lots of others.'
Score = 0
Dear Stereogum,
I like c(C)hairs. Great for the butt and the ears. Big ups on the video.
Love,
TUFTS vs CITS
Score = 0
hey, i just thought you'd want to see this
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDyslbrGKkk
its "SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT" backwards....
.... it actually sounds pretty cool. the remix possibly?
Score = 0
I love Travis, but damn, "I heart everything about you"? That is awful. are they going to start spelling everything phonetically? Track 3 of "The Man Who" will be re-titled As U R.
Score = 0
I am a huge Travis fan, and have been looking forward to a new album from them for quite some time. But this new song is...um...not good. Maybe it'll grow on me, but I didn't find it very catchy, and the lyrics left a lot to be desired. Hopefully, the rest of "Open" will be an improvement.
Score = 0
I thought 12 Memories was somewhere between 50% and 60% of a pretty darned good Travis album, but a real disappointment compared to Invisible Band and The Man Who. This sounds very promising -- Fran has me in his clutches from the moment he goes high on "climb" in the first verse -- and I know I'll succumb immediately when the album actually comes out.
Does anyone know who did the production on this particular cut? The busy rhythm track is definitely Eno-esque, but the feedback right at the fadeout is pure Godrich (whether he's working with Travis or Beck or whosomever).
Score = 0
i'm not crazy about this song, but it might grow on me. fran healy has such a great way with melody - phrasing in particular. '12 memories' was a bit of a let down from their earlier more folky stuff, but i still liked it. i know quite a few people for whom that album was what made them a travis fan, as opposed to the earlier, more commercially successful records. in any event, i'm really looking forward to this record - thanks stereogum... i had been wondering what they were up to lately.
oh, and perhaps a tour will follow? i saw them in vancouver a few years back, and it was a fantastic show. great, consummate performers.
Score = 0
So this explains their plum Coachella spot then.
SOmeone's about to get pimped hard to the public again.
Score = 0
i'm glad it's been cleaned up prior to my arrival but that first comment is ridiculous.
i love travis. so does macca.
Score = 0
I "heart" everything about you???
man thats kinda sad
Score = 0
The feedback at the end was apparently the fault of Radio 1, as it's not there on the version playing on their myspace page.
Score = 0
I like that one. Fran sounds like Fran again. Think they won't do another "The Man Who", but seems it'll go upwards compared to the rather indecisive and strangely lyriced 12 memories...
Actually, my first impression was, that this sounds a lot like Coldplay's X&Y album. But then again, there's also some Eskobar in it - and in particular: It's got the better melody, and it's obviously Travis, and I think I missed those guys.
Score = 0
Come on guys,
Im not impressed by this song either but their singles have never been their masterpieces, have they?
It's been songs like Last Train and Slide Show that distinguished them from all the others...
Phil from Germany
Score = 0
I quite like the new single. The beat and the baseline lend a real darkness and urgency to the song, played against the simple piano melody. Then again, I quite liked '12 memories' as an album. Maybe it was a little less folky, a little more pop rock, or maybe more aptly 'pub rock', but it was still very distintly 'Travis'.
The more I listen to it, the more I think that "I heart everything about you" is just Fran being coy. After all, Travis is no stranger to playful lyrics.
I'd like an explanation of the chorus though.
"Here we go, fast and slow, on the big chair"
Score = 0
I like the new single too. It wont set the world alight but it is better than a lot of other stuff out there. I just hope that they stay away from politics on the new album. '12 memories' had some good songs but it sometimes felt like they were too busy trying to make political statements, i hate it when bands start thinking they can change the world. Hopefully they will get back to making simple, innocent songs. I would be interested to know where previous people thought Travis were from?! Talk about having a distinctive accent.
Travis are awesome- best song- Humpty Dumpty Love Song.
Score = 0
The album is called THE BOY WITH NO NAME and not OPEN.
Tracklisting is as follows:
01. 3 Times And You Lose
02. Selfish Jean
03. Closer
04. Big Chair
05. Battleships
06. Eyes Wide Open
07. My Eyes
08. One Night
09. Out In Space
10. Colder
11. New Amsterdam
Score = 0
can anyoneee pleaseee send me an mp3 of closer or big chair or any new travis song! pleaseee. im not a pirate, i own all of travis' albums and im living for 7th may but i neeeeed to have closer in my ipodddd its sooooo lovelyy. pls plsplspls... send to vladimir7smicer@hotmail.com can? pleasee. i will be eternally grateful.
Score = 0
wouldn't really say Travis is a "90s" phenom... Nigel didn't work on Good Feeling which actually did come out in the 90s; he worked on Man Who, which came out spring of 2000 and was a slow cooker that didn't pick up steam until well into 2000; Nigel worked on Invisible Band which was definitely into the 00s.
Chris Martin has always been a big fan of Travis. He once took a Greyhound bus from NYC to New Jersey just to go to one of their shows. I'm not even kidding, because I saw him at that show and asked how he got there.
Score = 0
wrong amandabug. man who came out in 99
and hell, they were a 90s brit phenomenon. i have to agree. they fucking opened for oasis at their prime which is saying something. regardless of if oasis went downhill around 97 but whatever. they might not have garnered that much attention from america until the late 90s early 00's because of man who but it wasn't that way for the uk.
big chair is the best song off this album. i heard selfish jean and i dunno what to think about it.
but it's nice to see they're still writing and stuff.
Score = 0
They certainly were not a 90s phenom, unless you consider the limited success they had in ONE country with Good Feeling as a "phenomenom." Man Who was released in the UK in 99 but in the US in 2000, and only AFTER they opened for Oasis in 2000 did they garner steam in America. We're being facetious here, but in this case, I don't consider an album that came out in 99 but became popular in 2000 as a product of the '90s'.
I also won't consider the 2000 Oasis tour to be during Oasis' prime. Oasis' prime came and went around Morning Glory -- considerably many years before Travis opened for them. I love Oasis, but they were really at the height of their popularity after Morning Glory cracked America.
Score = 0
ok, i agree this is not one of the best Travis songs but is still a good one...
but i think My eyes is the best song of this album...
Travis is the best band ever...and fran healy is so much better than c.martin...coldplay became pop shit with X&y...wich is a pitty
Score = 0
DO NOT dare call a Scotsman a Brit!!!
Score = 0
"Watch your back Keane" ???
Get off it.
Travis were around way before Keane.
To me, Keane are Travis wannabe puppets with a piano.
Score = 0
The new album of travis is amazing. I had hear it many times and believe guys it sounds great. With this album i think they want to return to their beginnings.
Sorry my english is very bad.
Score = 0
travis is the greatest band ever next to u2. i think that any body who truly appreciates travis shouldnt dislike one album more than another every album from The Man WHo to Boy WIth No name has been an ausio artwork that could never be acheived by any other band and just for the record Big Chair is possibly one of their best songs music wise and it also ignites emotions within the people who listen to that rekindles forgotten happiness and hope
Score = 0