All Night Dining - 'There Must've Been A Reason'
Style over substance has been something long synonymous with Manchester’s music scene. I should know, I live here. While this may well earn me a certain degree of criticism, it doesn’t change the fact that for every band or artist with heart and integrity, there’s another 4 harbouring dreams of swaggering their way to Gallagherdom.
Thankfully, All Night Dining fall into the latter category. Formed in Manchester across 2019, the quartet have managed to drum up an impressive amount of buzz considering the current issues surrounding the UK’s music industry, largely thanks to ‘Butterfly’, a taster track the band released in early 2020, though not their debut proper.
That title falls to ‘There Must’ve Been A Reason’, four minutes of soaring lead guitar lines, crunchy rhythm sections and a vocal that effortlessly veers between optimistic and nostalgically wistful. For those of us a little longer in the tooth, the familiarity of what’s on offer could prove a turnoff, as echoes of bands such as Marsicans or Sundara Karma are evident. Stick with it however and ‘There Must Be A Reason’ quickly switches from a charming indie-pop offering into something richer, and more encompassing.
The crunchy guitars of the record’s first half become more imposing, the dynamics of the track more varied. It’s an interesting approach, especially for a debut, and one that shows All Night Dining to harbour more than one dimension. A fantastic introduction to the band if you’re not already familiar with them.
Words of Dave Beech