So often, when a guitar movement sparks to life, it’s closely followed by one intrinsically linked to dance music. After C86 came Acid House which spurned The Farm’s ‘Spartacus’, the Primals’ ‘Screamdelica’ and The Mondays’ ‘Pills Thrills and Bellyaches’ albums. As the Arctic Monkeys cashed in on The Libertines’ demise, Bloc Party opened up a world of possibilities, combining guitars with Breaks from the Balearics.
As punkadelia gets into full swing with The Blinders and Cabbage both releasing albums, Walsall’s The Assist, have fired the first shot to open guitars up to the escapist climates of Ibiza once more.
‘All I Need’ combines a soulful Sean McGowan meets Jack Penate vocal with floaty riffs and a brand of psyche music which oozes “love”. The perfect pop antidote to the punkadelic dystopia. Their reflection of the confusion and isolation of their early 20’s will be felt by this generation perhaps more than any previous. It’s this level of detail and substance which could catapult them to the bosom of the UK.
The aged old story of boredom and yearning for escape, continually provides the platform for bands to spring off. On ‘Exist’, they add themselves to this long list and, if it was good enough for Blur, Hard-Fi and The Enemy, it’s good enough for anyone.
Much like Sisteray, they are hell bent on reviving the classic sounds of 00s bands who have been too often overlooked for their influence. They’re taking the psyche and funk of early The Twang further than their Midlands counterparts ever dared on ‘Love’.
With their feet in the recent past, many may question is this the originality needed to drive guitars back to the mainstream consciousness. However, when a spirit is this pure and driven, ignore it at your peril.