31.Athlete -Touristt I wasn't sure what to expect from "Tourist". It has had a lot of critical acclaim since it was released, yet I had only heard a couple of tracks on the radio and although somehow they had managed to get into my head so that I hummed them (without knowing it was Athlete), they hadn't really grabbed me. The album opens with "Chances" which has a haunting piano intro and which builds up to a crescendo beautifully and yet has a sad undertone flowing through it. This kind of sets the tone for the album which, to be honest, is pretty melancholic and something that I wasn't too keen on to start with But after a few listens, "Tourist" really gets under your skin and maybe that is why the tracks I had heard on the radio had subverted their way into my head. Despite some of the songs having a funky up-beat feel they all have a subliminal sorrow that seems to run through them. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad thing. The lyrics to each of the tracks are crafted wonderfully and the musical arrangement is brilliant and the album is definitely what you might call a "grower". Favourite tracks for me have to be the aforementioned "Chances", "Half light", the title track "Tourist", "Twenty four hours" and the disarming "Wires". For me, Athlete's "Tourist" can be listened to on two different levels. It is easy listening, chilled out background music, yet if you stop and listen quietly on your own a lyric might strike a chord with a personal tragedy or just unveil a thought that just simply jerks a tear.