Music Review: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Chasing Yesterday

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Chasing Yesterday, is worth checking out.

Forget the egos and bluster of Oasis, everyone knows the band's true genius was the elder Gallagher brother.

It's 20 years since the massive (What's the Story) Morning Glory? and in some ways Noel Gallagher has moved onwards and upwards. In others it's like Oasis are back.

Chasing Yesterday is the follow-up to the self-titled 2011 debut from Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, and it's an hour of immensely likeable and catchy tunes.

The title Chasing Yesterday is fitting for an artist with one eye fixed on the past -- his obsession with the Beatles is well documented, and the band name is inspired by Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac and a Jefferson Airplane song.

But aside from the touches of psychedelia, here his influences seem (slightly) more contemporary.

Of course the power of the Fab Four is still obvious on tracks like the jangly The Girl With X-Ray Eyes, but delve a little deeper and you'll hear the return of shoegaze. On Lock All The Doors it's as if Swervedriver were back singing early Oasis songs.

Looking back a little further, The Right Stuff is vintage 80s The The material.

With strong songwriting throughout, and a cool urban twilight atmosphere, Chasing Yesterday is worth checking out today.