Travis – 12 Memories (2003)

I first heard about Travis from my ex-girlfriend at the early 2000's. She had The Man Who on a CD. I later discovered that I had actually heard a couple of their songs, but didn't really know what the band was. The Man Who was a good album and it represented the genre in music I was into back in the day. I wasn't much of a fan of The Invisible Band and especially the hit song Sing was a bit annoying. Therefore, I was kind of pleasantly surprised when some hit songs from 12 Memories came out, because they were actually pretty good. There was this kind of melancholic overall feel to the album and I especially liked the vocal harmonies used in many of the songs. Now, almost 15 years later, the songs sound a bit simple and boring, but there is still some sentimental value for these songs. Some of these songs remind me of specific moments in my life.




I bought this jewel case CD quite late considering when the album came out. This was in the spring 2009 when I was in Hong Kong with a large group of friends from University. This used book shop in Soho of Hong Kong had ridiculously cheap CDs and this probably cost me about one pound. I had considered buying this album before, so the cheap price sealed the deal and I bought it.

I haven't returned to this album that many times since then, but whenever some of these songs come up on my i-Pad when playing shuffle, I kind of like these songs still. Especially Re-Offender and Mid-Life Krysis. I remember seeing Re-Offender music video over and over again on MTV and on other music video programmes of the time. Travis was kind of mainstream even before this album came out, but I feel like this album really sealed the deal where Travis became known to everyone.

Nowadays, Travis is one of the bands that comes up among the first if there's a discussion of famous Scottish bands. I definitely included it in my blogpost about Scotland's music scene among one of the first bands.

Some bands last quite well with changing times, but sadly I feel like Travis is not one of them. Listening to this album now, I feel like it just sounds hopelessly out of date. This is like a historical artefact of the early 00's music. I feel like this band is quite sympathetic, so I would like to feel otherwise, but what can I do.

Travis links in my mind to a very specific period in my life when I was just starting my university studies. There are numerous flashes that come to mind while listening to this album. So, in that sense, the album is quite an important one for me. It has served its purpose in the soundtrack of my life.

Album on Spotify.