Album Review: London Grammar - 'The Greatest Love'

Is 'The Greatest Love' the band's greatest album?

“People don't change, people stay the same.” This quote from ‘Fakest Bitch’ pretty much sums up London Grammar’s latest album, ‘The Greatest Love’: it’s more of the same, what you’d expect - but for fans of the band, that’s no bad thing.

Without doubt, it’s worth noting upfront that the group released the best tracks from this one ahead of time, dropping ‘Kind Of Man’ and ‘House’ earlier this year, but there are still plenty of fresh listens that are well worth your time.

‘Santa Fe’ is a mellow tune that feels full of warmth yet melancholic, and ‘You And I’ is one of the poppiest tracks on the album, feeling ready-made for the band’s next single release.

Yet in ‘Fakest Bitch’, there’s a venom to the art, an anger that builds on the likes of ‘Lord It’s a Feeling’ and proves London Grammar aren’t just about producing pleasant tunes. Sure, the lyricism isn’t always the most nuanced, but the vocals of Hannah Reid - which are, for this writer, genuinely unmatched in modern music - and sonic experimentation of Dot Major and Dan Rothman more than make up for it. 

Three years after ‘Californian Soil’, possibly LG’s finest outing so far, ‘The Greatest Love’ is a welcome return for one of our city’s most talented trios - it might not reach the heights of its predecessor, but when the bar is so high, getting even close to that is an achievement in itself.