Manchester’s Afflecks Palace have been on one hell of a charge this past two years. Not content with launching their label Spirit of Spike Island, looking after the rising star of Pastel, they have now self-released their debut album ‘What Do You Mean It’s Not Raining’. Never let it be said the youth of today are lazy!
You can buy the album from Spirit of Spike Island.
It may have been recorded at James Kenoshas studio in Hull and mastered by John Davies at Metropolis in London but, it’s very much a Manchester album. Forget rehash, this is a recreation for the famous city from the ground up for 2021.
‘Capre Diem’ and ‘Pink Skies’ are fine clarion calls and, burn with a unique rage. Both clutch The Roses and Smiths to their hearts. There’s a spirit, a raging desire to be heard, to be brilliant and to be loved! The former, sprinkled with the brash parts of The La’s and the infectious moments of Ride’s comeback will disarm the most hardened souls as its buoyant charm races to your serotonin.
On ‘Pink Skies’, they serve up sun drenched imagery and poetry so blissful, it’s inevitable the masses don’t flock to them. Working class anthems haven’t sounded this good since Tom Clarke’s gritty Coventry tales burned bright in 2007. Like Clarke, frontman James Fender has a knack of his digging his heels in and making it sound joyous. No one is stopping his dreams! Where they differ from The Enemy is, Afflecks Palace have deafness of touch. The angelic vocals and feather light guitars smile at the naysayers. All the while, their propulsive polemic strives for glory:
“The pyramid is ten feet tall
Shall we climb it, risk the fall?
Steal the rusty copper crown”
This is an album that far outreaches its Manchester roots though. A huge slice of the Laurel Canyon scene infiltrates its beauty. ‘Ripley Jean’ is an effortless Byrdsian meander into sun-kissed landscapes. The rapid-fire licks and Fender’s Alan Wilson-esque (Canned Heat) vocals serve this adventure well. The accelerated guitars keep on coming via the Johnny Marr-inspired ‘Forever Young. Meanwhile, on album opener ‘This City Is Burning Alive’, an array of McGinn and Clark guitar parts erupt into life to make the laissez-faire psyche of seem Tame Impala extinct.
Then, on ‘Spinner’, comes the moment that will catapult the band to superstardom. Everything you thought you liked about The Lathums dissipates here. They have eclipsed their (fine) Wigan peers’ infectious sound with this bubblegum pop classic. Witty and humble, this heaven-sent reincarnation of Sally Cinnamon via Ride’s ‘Future Love’ is beset with joyous vocal inflections and a freeing nature so pure, its more intoxicating than MDMA.
Some are dubbing them ‘nu-Manchester’, what we know is, they have found a way to reimagine the past in 2021. So many have striven to be like the greats, Afflecks have found space in their slipstream on this debut. How soon they can overtake remains to be seen but, their Destiney clearly lies alongside them at least!
*Images courtesy of Spirit of Spike Island