Discovering new music is exciting, and this is a band, relatively new to me, who have really caught my attention this year. Their debut album The Loved Ones is old-school and brilliant. Sophie Turrill gave the ten track masterpiece a listen to; here’s the verdict:

Flyte are a British alternative pop/alternative rock band from London who formed in 2013 and have had early singles played by Zane Lowe and Fearn Cotton. The four piece made up of Will Taylor (lead singer and guitar), Sam Kerridge (keyboard, guitar and backup vocals), Jon Supran (drums and backup vocals) and Nick Hill (bass and backup vocals) released their first single in 2014 and are soon to be supporting Amber Run on their European tour.

The first track from the debut album, Faithless, has an old school feel about it and it’s like listening to something from the 80s. But it’s brilliant. The instrumentals, particularly the mixture of acoustic and electric guitar, work so well with the seemingly faultless vocals of lead singer Will Taylor. Its classy, yet exciting and a brilliant opener to the album.

Victoria Falls was released as a single earlier in the year and the track that put Flyte on my radar. It’s a catchy alternative pop track and the chorus really is the hook. Lyrically, it tells a story and thats one of the great things about it. The vocals and arrangement are both clever and that’s what makes this song so good.

Cathy Come Home and Echoes are also tracks that have previously been released as singles. Cathy Come Home has that old school feel to it and I love the build up to the chorus. While it’s quite a repetitive song it doesn’t really matter because it’s so good – it’s not one of those pop songs which gets on your nerves. Echoes on the other hand is a simple, laid-back track which is lyrically brilliant, in particular the following lyrics really stand out: ‘but no-one remembers love they remember the echoes’.

Orphans Of The Storm is one of the slower songs from the record, but vocally really strong. It’s quite stripped back which puts Taylor’s vocals under the spotlight and it really shows off his vocal range, and it’s such an easy song to listen to.

For me the weakest track on the album is Sliding Doors. It’s another slower song quite similar to Orphans of the Storm. The best thing about it is the beat and the lyrics, it’s just missing a little something. When all the other tracks are so strong this one falls behind a bit.

Little White Lies is one of my favourite tracks on the record. It’s got a super catchy chorus (which once again isn’t too mainstream) and is a feel good song. While the vocals stand out so do the instrumentals, the riff played throughout is so easy to pick out and so simple – it really works!

One of the things I love about this album is the personalisation of names throughout  – Victoria Falls, Cathy Come Home, Archie Marry Me and this next track Annie and Alistair. I almost want them to create a song entitled My Darling, Sophie! The lyrics are the thing that draws you into Annie and Alistair, and the melody that goes with it make this song really special. The harmonies are near enough perfect and the ending is quite abrupt, and I like that.

The melody in Spiral makes this song stand out from the offset. There’s so many layers and twists in this track which show off both the instrumentals and vocals – the harmonies are really satisfying to listen to and this comes from the depth of the song.

Archie, Marry Me is probably my favourite track from the album. The start really grips you and you soon learn that this track is all about the vocals and in particular the harmonies – it’s brilliantly clever, haunting and perfect. It’s acapella but without the cheese, a song which will give you goosebumps when played live. My only criticism (if you can call it that) is that it’s too short – I want more!

One of the things I love about this band is that they are old school, diverse, yet they add a bit of a modern twist to their songs. It’s refreshing to hear and each track is articulated brilliantly. For their debut album it really is something special, and to say they have only been together for four years shows the massive amount of potential for the future. The Loved Ones is one of my favourite albums released so far this year. Bravo.