Who has time to nitpick the absence of heavy, shoegaze-y riffs and Martin Carr, when the three remaining members have made such a good Boo Radleys record in 2022? For the most part, Keep On With Falling succeeds admirably, sounding as much like the Boos of Kingsize in spots as this fan was ever likely to hope. That we're even talking about a new Boo Radleys record in 2022 is something of a miracle anyway, so that tends to make me want to rave about this.
Last year's single, "A Full Syringe and Memories of You" was a good indication of the tone here, with Sice, Rob, and Tim imbuing this one, and the positively gorgeous "You and Me" with the kind of blissful assurance we heard on things like "Blue Room in Archway" and "I Hang Suspended" so many years ago. And if there's not a lot of pyrotechnics here on Keep On With Falling, the melodies are sometimes enough to provide the same sort of rush feedback used to. On "Tonight" and "All Along", the band bounces between keyboard-anchored Britpop, the material recalling Sice's Eggman spin-off at times, but with a bigger scope. The absence of Martin Carr has done nothing to diminish the ambition of the remaining three members as this is big music in spots. And, apart from maybe "Here She Comes Again", there's not a lot here that will feel like a letdown for fans.
While opener "Keep on Falling" seems like the old Boos, there is a clear reliance on keyboards here. A fan can't help but wonder if that's because Martin Carr's not here to let loose on the guitar. I don't know the answer. But what I do know is that there's an admirable adaptation going on here with the Boos throughout the whole album. Keep on Falling seems like a natural progression for the band who last graced us with Kingsize so many decades ago. And with each listen, the selections here feel like The Boo Radleys of old. The band was barely a shoegaze band anyway; "Wake Up" and other late career numbers gave a signal that things were changing, and the band was expanding their approach. Well, here we are in 2022, and 3 of those band members have made good on those earlier hints with a record that's quite beautiful in spots. I can offer no higher praise than to say that "You and Me" and other cuts here take me to that same special mental place the best of The Boo Radleys took me to in the Nineties.
Keep On With Falling is out now.
More details on The Boo Radleys via the official website.