The Rifles frontman released his debut solo album ‘The Undertow’ this past Friday. It was written during lockdown and recorded at his home studio Right Hook Recording in Walthamstow, with contributions from drummer Brendan O’Neill and fellow Rifle Dean ‘Deano’ Mumford on piano.
During lockdown, Stoker noticed a thematic pattern emerging in his lyrics. His struggle with depression and anxiety were informing everything. Stoker’s vocals often lent the mayhem of The Rifles a forlorn melancholia. It tempered the raucousness of the anthems swirling around him. On ‘Undertow’, he strips back the sonic to set his soul and demons free.
Former singles ‘Walls Fall’, ‘My Own War’, and ‘Wave Of Hope’ delve into his battles with anxiety. ‘Walls Fall’, a sombrely defiant record, tackles the struggle to be working class and admit your struggling. The sense you must keep ploughing forward builds a tenseness forever lurking no matter how powerful his indie-soul vocal soars. ‘My Own War’ deposits Americana and Shack influences whilst his sense of isolation grows. Stoker’s ability to forge his trials with such soaring melodies throughout is the chink of light we should all cling to. It’s on ‘Wave of Hope’ where Stoker truly exceeds. The battle to comprehend his plight is illustrated via Arcade Fire’s carnival spirit and Stoker's CSNY-esque solo. Despite the melodic euphoria, self-doubt pervades and leads him to the conclusion his life is based on luck:
“I've been riding a wave of only hope”
Then, in a moment songwriting genius, Stoker lights up the ultimate quandary of all men the UK:
“But I won’t make no attempt to ring the alarm”
Image & Artwork courtesy of Fear PR.
Stoker’s delivery here is a rare Rifles moment of fist-aloft power. The melody circumvents the destructive power of the sentiment which highlights the trouble men expressing unseeable pain.
Stoker looks beyond just his own struggle and folds in his partner to ‘Like I Love You’ and ‘Can’t Stop The Tears’ to ramp up feelings of guilt and despair. Inspired by Michael Kiwanuka’s ‘Cold Little Heart’ he paints images of a man desperate to repent. Issues of codependency and desperation to keep the one sure thing in his life alive (“feel like a stranger to myself when im alone…I hope I get to you in time”) are lit up by his Kiwanuka meets Buffalo Springfield solo. On ‘Can’t Stop The Tears’, he acknowledges his inability to express himself:
“I keep you in my heart where the walls are hard to climb”
The anguish builds as he attempts to unlock yet more emotional turbulence:
“And I get tired / sick and tired / and I I try hard to figure it out”
All the while, nodes of Motown and Mick Head guitars playing shine like gold apce with his heaven sent vocal.
Despite the discourse, ‘The Undertow’ is an album of sumptuous melody. No matter the inner turmoil, the songwriting commands the respect of Mojo and NME readers alike. ‘Until I Find My Mind’ strips back his work with The Rifles, delivering joyous hymnal vocal uplifts. ‘Down At The Undertow’ flirts with the Ocean Colour Scene classic ‘Day Should Last Forever’ and the genius of Madness’ ‘The Liberty of Norton Folgate’, slapping Village Green Preservation Society’ on the bum as it saunters by. Then, on ‘The Valley’, the eloquence of ‘English Rose’ and folk of ‘Mariners Way’, he deftly delivers a message of hope and survival for anyone struggling to cling to.
After two decades with The Rifles, making any solo album was a brave decision. To tackle his living nightmares and chart a musical course a world away was truly courageous. Delivering an album of the year contender should be used as a case study of hope to all who need it.