Review: Ten Tonnes – Ten Tonnes

Ten Tonnes has finally released his self-titled debut album after much anticipation. The 12-song album is perfect for the upcoming festival season giving an indie/pop tone with EVERY song featuring an infectious chorus that makes you want to get up and dance. 22-year-old Ten Tonnes – real name Ethan Barnett – is the younger brother of George Ezra, but with this record he shows he is not in his brother’s shadow. Though they both have very cheerful poppy guitar filled songs, and Ten Tonnes steers away from his elder brother’s influence through the incorporation of the ’90s/’00s indie rock genre. This album features many of Ten Tonnes’ previously released singles/EPs, but many have been reproduced showing a huge transformation and growth.

Ten Tonnes opens with ‘Lucy’, an absolute classic that Barnett wrote while at university before dropping out (which, with the pressures of university, is tempting). ‘Lucy’ furthered his music to a wider audience and when played live creates an atmosphere of pure bliss and joy. Next up comes ‘G.I.V.E’, another fan-favourite, especially due to its wholesome and catchy chorus:

“Yeah, you can G.I.V.E. all your love back to me
I could always take some more
Yeah, you can G.I.V.E. all your love back to me
If that’s what you want”

Unlike many other indie pop albums out these days, Ten Tonnes has a very distinguished sound and all the songs have thier own unique flourishes. This is especially evident in ‘Counting Down’. With its prominent bass and heavy guitar riffs, it changes the course of the album while keeping its cheerful and festival like nature. Musical influences can be heard throughout – especially with ‘Cracks Between’ sounding quite similar to The Kooks’ ‘Naïve’. Indie legends such as ex-Maccabee member Hugo White co-produced this album, which can explain why ’90s/’00s indie rock plays a predominant role in the sound of Ten Tonnes. Barnett takes his musical style from ’50s Rock and Roll and we can definitely see this in ‘Silver Heat’, which is one of my personal favourites as it changes the pace of the album, giving it more of an edge.

The closing song takes a whole new quality compared to the rest of the album. ‘Missing You’ is much slower and features a slow acoustic guitar, and is absolutely the sort of song where everyone will hold their lighters up at a show while your arms are around your best mates. It is the perfect way to end the album and leaves us wanting more.
Ten Tonnes makes you forget about all the bad things going on in the world for a moment, and as an artist Barnett is definitely one to look out for. If you haven’t seen him live then you can catch him at many festivals across the UK this year, including Reading/Leeds Festival.

Ten Tonnes is available now via Warner Music UK.