Albums: The Script - Satellites

The Script - Satellites
Both Ways; Unsaid; Home Is Where The Heart Is; At Your Feet; Gone; Inside Out; Satellites; One Thing I Got Right; Falling Flying; Before You Go; Promises; Run Run Run
(BMG)

This new album from Irish band The Script is their first since the death last year of guitarist Mark Sheehan at the age of forty-six. Satellites continues in the spirit of their previous albums, offering songs that will sound ideal in the vast arenas that the band will play on their autumn tour. Sometimes, just on the right side of cheesy, The Script knows what their audience expects—and they do not disappoint on this fine return.

Danny O’Donoghue, the band’s frontman, has come through a difficult period over the last few years; besides losing his friend in the band, he also lost his mother five years ago. The songs often tend to be melodramatic but very instantaneous, all part of The Script's appeal.

The opening number, Both Ways, takes the band out of their comfort zone with an influence from OutKast, as The Script sound like they come from New York and not Dublin. Gone is clearly a tribute to Sheehan, as O'Donoghue sings "The world is not the same since you've been gone" over a contrastingly upbeat melody with an Avicii influence. Inside Out deals with mental issues, as O’Donoghue sings about depression and anxiety.

The folk-infused title track was one of the last songs that Sheehan co-wrote. However, other songwriters such as Wayne Hector, who has written songs for One Direction and Theanted, among others, have been included elsewhere on the album.

The likeable album concludes with the upbeat Run Run Run, which continues the album's beginning in a confident and optimistic style, as The Script rediscover their passion for making great music.