Snappy pop drum loop, jingly jangly guitar, and for 17.5 seconds The Beautiful Occupation is almost exciting. What follows is three and a half minutes of dreary "go nowhere" sort of music that sounds boring after two.
The vocals and backing add to the dull feeling of the song (and I mean dull in the truest sense of the word). Healy sounds like he'd rather be a million and one places than in the vocal booth recording Travis' second single from 12 Memories, which is a shame because his voice is technically very good.
The problem is that Travis are finding it hard to re-invent themselves after the success of The Man Who, which even now sounds tired and used. They just sound so bland. And they feed us this at Christmas time!? In conclusion then, Travis desperately need to find some balls and do something a bit different without worrying about losing their fan base. Buy The Darkness instead.