he Electric Soft Parade first attracted attention due to their unusual set of influences. They were keen Britpop revivalists—at a time when it was particularly unfashionable to be so—inspired not only by the familiar Britpop giants (Blur, Oasis, Supergrass) but also forgotten minnows like Tiger and the Supernaturals.

These are admirable intentions, in my opinion. I was a keen Britpop fan, and would warmly welcome its laddish stomp and swagger back into indie music. While The Soft Parade’s debut album Holes in the Wall didn’t quite satisfy my appetite, there was enough youthful zest to suggest they may yet produce a belated Britpop classic.

Unfortunately, it seems their energy has been sucked out by the time spent on the road plugging their debut long-player: it’s always bad news when a band dedicates a large portion of their record to whining about the strains of touring—all the usual “Another empty hotel room / I miss my dog” clichés become tiresome very quickly. A survey of the song titles on The American Adventure bears this theory out—“Chaos”, “Headacheville”, “Lights Out”—these lads have become world-weary before hitting their mid-twenties.

Actually listening to the record does little to dispel these feelings of disappointment. “The Wrongest Thing in Town” is a grey, energy-sapped ballad—as inspiring as a wet Tuesday morning. The title track is a particularly punishing epic—seven minutes of melody-free, gloomy indie-prog. It’s concluding line (“But it’s too late to have hope / to be saved / you won’t.”) starts to ring rather true for the Soft Parade.

Thankfully, not everything on the American Adventure suffers from such despondency. Opening track “Things I’ve Done Before” may not let much lyrical light in (“Back to the part I hate / …the things I’ve done before”), but it’s equipped with a killer riff and a sense of momentum that is lost later in the album. “Lose Yr Frown” has a stylish organ hook, similar to Supergrass’ “Going Out”, while “Bruxellisation” is a rich, heartbreaking ballad in the Doves mould.

However, one can only conclude that, overall, too much time on the road has caused the Parade to lose some of their fizz. Their American Adventure has drained them of the optimism that made Britpop’s mid 90’s heyday such fun—yielding a decidedly dour record devoid of this essential quality. Perhaps some time off, and repeated listens to Parklife and Definitely Maybe will get them back on track. Time is certainly on their side.