British boy band Rixton recently released their first album Let the Road which includes hit singles such as “Me and my Broken Heart” and “Wait on Me”  plus eight other songs. Inspired by Maroon 5 and Bruno Mars, the band’s popularity has quickly grown from their humble beginnings in 2013.

The album starts with the beautiful a capella song “Let the Road.” This song is unique to every other song on the album. There is no pop sound or funky beat—it’s only their voices harmonizing in a beautiful melody. The song’s encouraging lyrics and gentle pace are calming and pleasant to listen to and proves that Rixton aren’t just any boy band—they are capable of more.

The album contains singles that are already familiar to Rixton fans: “Wait on Me” and “Me and My Broken Heart.” These two songs have obvious Maroon 5 influences—the fast beat and catchy, but sometimes indecipherable lyrics. These two songs are very different from the album opener; they have more of a dance-party mood than a beautiful and vulnerable feeling. Though “Wait on Me” and “Me and My Broken Heart” have a toe-tap-alicious beat and were stuck in my head all day, I prefer the sound of their first song.

The other songs on the album Let the Road stray away from their Maroon 5 roots. “Appreciated” is still upbeat and more of a pop song than “Let the Road,” but it has an acoustic atmosphere and is full of harmonizing among the band member’s voices, so it’s not quite like their first singles. It is clear that more thought and time has gone into the new songs on the album—the lyrics are more complex than their previously released singles and the songs are versatile.

“We All Want the Same Thing” is a typical pop song in the catchy, repetitive lyrics and brisk beat. But Rixton made sure that it would not be easily compared to any other song—“We All Want the Same Thing” is sung in falsetto and has a bit of a disco feel.

The song “Hotel Ceiling” was written for the band by their mentor Ed Sheeran. The song is distinctly Sheeran’s work—a sad, but splendid song about a lost love—and Rixton performs it very well. Though they aren’t quite as good as Sheeran, they are a relatively new band and have the potential of being just as great.

The debut album closes the same way it opened—with an impressive demonstration of harmony through the song, “Whole.” The song starts a capella, but slowly other instruments creep in: piano, drums, guitar. This song is a beautiful masterpiece.

Rixton’s new album is a fantastic variety of pop music, acoustic guitar, a capella, and everything in between. It’s clear that they only picked their best work for this album—I was quite relieved that the song “Make Out” did not appear in this album. Their hard work to create songs that don’t all sound the same has definitely paid off. I would rate this album a seven and a half out of ten, and look forward to seeing more songs from this band.