Rock music often gets a bad reputation for its cliche, bombast, its often cartoon like qualities. Throw in a bit of pop sensibility and you start to balance those negative qualities, add a dash of widescreen cinematic vibes, some anthemic qualities and a stadium ready alt-rock approach and you have something altogether more interesting, in fact you have Artist Vice’s Cleared For Landing.
It walks a line of pop addictiveness and rock robustness, of soaring harmonies and deftly layered musical textures, a balancing act which is difficult to say the least. Too far one way and you fall into the ungainly plod of the rock beast, moving the other way leaves you in the saccharine, throwaway territories of short shelf life pop, but get it right, as Artist Vice has done here, and the result is a mature and radio friendly sound that will ensure both popularity and longevity in equal measure.