The Crooks: The Water Rats, London

Chesterfield’s The Crooks headlined The Water Rats for This Feeling this past Saturday. Copy we originally had penned in 2020. Four years on from the crushing despair of that tour cancellation hadn't caused a lack of interest, but it had caused trepidation.

*banner image credit: Charlie_green19 - Courtesy of the band.

In 2020, the buzz for the cancelled tour was off the scale. There was a clear sense of glory awaiting the band as, single after single, amassed legions of fans. In the build-up to Saturday, a lot of what-ifs lingered. What if their time had passed? What if the band and fans were not as one anymore?

We needn’t have worried.

The electrifying opening of ‘What You Know’ and ‘Silhouette Sunshine’ was a pulsating moment of release. The band are still us, we’re still them! Their time apart clearly left its mark, as there is a real sense of now or never. Rock ‘n’ roll needs this desperation to thrive, and the Water Rats faithfully needed it more.

On ‘In Time’, the band make the intimate room feel like Knebworth. Modders’ guitars on ‘In Time’ howled into the night like warning sirens of hope. Frontman Jacko, stepping off the gas to allow a cuter DMAs-esque vocal to offset the colossal-sized guitars to shine, confirmed that all “what ifs” can get in the bin.

Wave upon wave of euphoric emotion is packed in the set. ‘Nevermind spirals towards pure ecstasy, while ‘She Walks Alone’ took you into the emotional trenches and spat you out with King-sized belief in humanity again.

On ‘Better Days’, the band breathes, leaving Jacko to do something utterly magical. His vocals were blessed with the infectiousness of Tommy O’Dell (DMAs), the raw power of Tom Clarke (The Enemy), and Noel’s ability to make simple melodic twists sound like messages from God. This stripped-back moment was a moment for the lost. For rock n roll fans fed up with overpaying for the old guard to half arsing the past. This was about now! As he decreed, “We need to find our way again”, a collective sigh of relief oozed through the air. Being in the moment for something youthful, a spirit that wanted (and will) change the world, was spine-tingling.

You spend a lifetime waiting for bands to pull it all together, to have the look, the melody, the politics. Only when it appears in front of you do you realise that you allowed pretenders to take the throne in the intervening years. The Crooks are the real deal. They allow you to pour your dreams, heartache, and regrets into their chest out of a sense of working-class glory. This gig will be etched into the minds of all who were there. Triumphant, yes, but this felt like the beginning, not a crowning moment.

Wull – Amber

Liverpool’s Wull returned with their new single, ‘Amber,’ at the start of May. It follows the raw power of ‘Overrun.’ Will it stack up?

*image courtesy of the band & This Feeling.

Where ‘Overrun’ took the ecstatic moments of The Strokes’ ‘Reptilla’ and the frantic joy of Interpol to dark places, ‘Amber’, while blessed with gothic tinges, has an effortless flow that takes their brand of post-punk to the edge of joyous.

With 'Amber ', Wull's musical evolution is evident. The hopeful energy reminiscent of New Order's ‘Crystal’ collides with the debut album mayhem of Fontaines DC. The climactic moments are like warning sirens, both dystopian and utopian, reflecting the past fourteen years of confusion, loss, and hope. It's a powerful metaphor for those wondering about the potential of incoming change.

Each band member's contribution becomes distinct as the mesh of styles reaches its climax. Drummer Oscar Hellewell's tirade of destruction elevates the record to another realm, while frontman Ben Coles' vocals take on a more ethereal quality. This dynamic allows everything to explode into a moment of post-punk brilliance.

Two singles into 2024 and Wull are looking like one of 2024’s breakout acts.

MOSES – Guilty

London’s MOSES are back after two years away. Their new single ‘Guilty’, is the first to be taken from their upcoming third album due for release later this year. Recorded at Magic Garden Studio in Wolverhampton, it sees the band hook up with Gavin Monaghan (The Blinders / Ocean Colour Scene / Rosa Caleum) once again.

Image & artwork courtesy of Rocklands TV.

Last time out on ‘I Still Believe, Do You?’, the band exquisitely and poignantly lit up the struggles of a working-class band in the modern age. It was an album steeped in anguish but never without hope. Upon return, MOSES have found a new mantra, “fuck it”. Everything, including the kitchen sink has been thrown into this!

With two fingers up to an industry that helps so few, they have come out swinging with crunching basslines and a career-best vocal from frontman Victor Moses. Together, they deliver the venom and fury that Foals have been trying and failing to nail down for the past decade.

The breakdown, short, but mystical, erupts into a frenzied attack of gunshot guitars and Rob Harvey-esque vocals. The Music’s debut album’s colossal soul oozes through this razor-sharp return from indie-s unsung heroes of recent times.

Their time is now!

Matt Edible & The Obtuse Angels – Idiot

Hull’s Matt Edible (The Holy Orders / Kingmaker) and The Obtuse Angels are back with their latest single ‘Idiot’. Recorded at Edbile’s home studio, it follows 2023’s comic glam-rock masterpiece ‘Mirror Shoes’.

Image & artwork courtesy of the band.

Like ‘Mirror Shoes’, they tread a similar path of glam-rock and humorous lyrics. Edible pokes fun at those who revelled in a lack of Michael Gove’s experts, leading us all down a path of cultural and financial devaluation for a decade. Sonically, he takes the jovial and mercurial spirit of Sultans of Ping, Jim Bob, and the poetical play of Yard Act to a world of glam-rock riffs with divine results.

The introduction of the angelic backing vocals elevates the comic timing of “im a card carrying idiot” to Bafta award levels.  With a general election on the horizon and said idiots in retreat mode, the hope is that Steve Bray lines this up as Sunak and his non-dom wife toddle off to California on July 5th.

There may have been seven months between ‘Mirror Shoes’ and ‘Idiot,’ but the wait has been worth it. Great melody and sardonic lyrics skip hand in hand, knowing that time is up for the idiots.

Idyllic – Everyone Wants to Know

Liverpool’s Idyllic returned in April to self-release their latest single, ‘Everyone Wants to Know.’ It follows the free-flowing ‘The World is Falling Down.’ Will it match its prowess?

*image credit Trust a Fox Photography

Idyllic has reawakened the 00s guitar scene on their latest single. Instant jagged guitar hooks and enriching indie-soul vocals pull from the finer moments of Pigeon Detectives, The Zutons, and The Kooks’ debut. With a crucial exception, there's is better!

Niall Doolan’s vocals have the warmth of Dave McCabe (The Zutons), the ragged soul of James Skelly (The Coral), and the defiant urgency of Matt Bowman (Pigeon Detectives). Despite possessing obvious talent, his vocal has a humbleness and an everyman appeal—the kind that lights up pubs with comedic tales of heroic defeat.

‘Everyone Wants to Know’ is the perfect counterpoint to ‘The World is Falling Down’. Where the latter rumbles on with infectious expressiveness, ‘Everyone Wants to Know’ taps into an old-school single mindset. Short, punchy riffs unfurl the sweetest of instant gratification!

The Lunar Towers - Morpho Butterfly

Cheltenham band The Lunar Towers recently released their first song of 2024. ‘Morpho Butterfly’ was recorded at Yawn Studios in the Wirral with the masterful songwriter Bill Ryder-Jones and Nathaniel Cummings (Mick Head) producing. The single has been released via the impeccable Colorama Records.

Banner image & artwork courtesy of the band.

The time spent with Ryder-Jones has been well spent by frontman Rory Moore as he slips into The Coral co-founder’s gentle vocal husk. With Jones as his constant, Moore allows hints of Elliott Smith’s moonlit beauty and ‘Goodnight Unknown’ era Lou Barlow to glide in and out of view effortlessly.

Joe Richardson and Robn Sewell’s guitars provide the backdrop to this ode to the natural world and a beguiling woman they once encountered. The joy of The Lemonheads and Teenage Fanclub is never far away from their fingertips. Their wayward beauty erupting into focused bursts of technicolour allows their visions of a “butterfly” or “the girl dreaming of” to swirl with an innocence that guitar music should always be steeped in.

The Lunar Towers' music resonates with summer's lazy, dreamy vibes, punctuated by occasional bursts of genius. Their sound, reminiscent of Belle & Sebastien’s glorious 1996 releases of ‘Tigermilk’ and ‘If Your Feeling Sinister’, captures the fertile periods of youthful ambition.

about-faces – Learn to Surf

about-faces have released their new single, ‘Learn to Surf’. Recorded at Greenmount Studios in Leeds, it was produced by Jamie Lockhart and mastered by Felix Davis at Metropolis Studios in London.

*banner image credit: Barnaby Fairley

Artwork credit: Livestock Studios

Learn To Surf’s origins began on frontman Sennen Ludman’s camping holiday. Staring out to the ocean, his friend Noah uttered the phrase, ‘If you can’t stop the waves, learn to surf.’ This profound uttering ignited a spark of inspiration within the band. Lyrics of defiance and poignant piano parts flowed from Sennen, but it wasn’t until last October, when the bassist rearranged it, that it all came together.

Sennen’s lyrics connect the harrowing to the inspiring, dependent on mood. The hook of ‘If you can’t stop the waves, learn to surf’ , alongside the euphoria of the sonic build, has the potential to drag people under as much as it uplifts. It brings a relentless pressure which, if fragile, should come with a warning. Ultimately though, the goodwill out, and no matter if you think all hope is gone, if a loved one is, or when eternal love fractures and fades, learn to surf. Life is going to come at you relentlessly; embrace it!

Wave upon wave of resilience emerges from a band that, four singles in, has found a formula that could see them emulate the indie gods of Arcade Fire and TV on the Radio.

Marseille – She Can Fly

Derby band Marseille unveiled their latest single, ‘She Can Fly,’ last Friday. It is a captivating follow-up to March’s ‘Monkey in the Middle’. This is the second single from their highly anticipated ‘Godiva’ EP, set to be released this September.

Where ‘Monkey In The Middle’ stared down the world with its psychedelic directness, ‘She Can Fly’, as the title suggests, has a more ethereal quality. Without losing a scintilla of heft, Marseille have managed to jab and move here with exquisite poise.

With The Verve’s debut album ‘Storm In Heaven’ as a guiding light, ‘She Can Fly’ leans into the melodic power of ‘Slide Away’. The band, with fleeting moments of driving shoegaze dynamism, pays homage to their influences before embarking on their own rippling exploration.

Stepping on and off the power provides the perfect counterpoint to the psyche assault of ‘Monkey in the Middle, ’ which Labrum intercuts with rippling guitar magic that strays from Andy Bell to John Martyn with a drool-worthy effortlessness.

With two powerful singles already in 2024, Marseille is poised for a breakout year. The anticipation for the 'Godiva' EP, set to release this September, is palpable. Roll on to September.

Click the image below for tickets to Marseille’s autumn tour:

Subterrania – Knows Me Too Well

South Wales’ Subterrania are set to release their latest single ‘You Knows Me Too Well’ this Friday. It’s been eight months since their last release ‘Shine’ hit the airwaves and grabbed rock ‘n’ roll fans’ attention Can they maintain momentum?

*banner image & artwork courtesy of Songbird PR.

Image & artwork courtesy of the band.

Where ‘Shine’ embodied the boozy swagger of early Oasis, ‘You Knows Me Too Well’ brings it right up to date by leaning into the newfound urgency of Pastel. Dylan Cai’s vocal flits between angelic and hopeful to a raw, lo-fi, defiant roar, allowing music lovers to believe in openness once more.

Our protagonist, blessed with a purity sorely missing in society in 2024, becomes heroic in the closing stages as Cai wrenches, “don’t call my name / when I see you here tomorrow / there’s nothing to blame / but you’re drowning in sorrow” from his soul repeatedly.

Cai summons a guttural two fingers to the world leached from soul whilst Fin Roach’s guitars hiss with the recent urgency of Pastel’s ‘Dancing On A Pin’ and ‘Your Day’. Together, they manoeuvre from a heavy, trippy fog to a distilled rock ‘n’ roll clarity.

Subterrania's three singles have tapped into the trippy psyche and violent rock ‘n’ roll of the all-conquering Pastel. Throw in the mysticism of Rosellas and the laudable comeback of The Crooks, and suddenly, a new wave of psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll is less a bedroom dream and more a juggernaut coming over the horizon.

Click the image below for tickets to their upcoming headline show with This Feeling:

The Outers – Twenty

London outfit The Outers recently released their first single of 2024. ‘Twenty’ witnesses the band join forces with esteemed sound engineer Tom Hough (Azelia Banks, Stereophonics, Rihanna) on an eclectic look back at the Orwellian lockdown of recent years.

*banner image credit: Martine Lund

Image & artwork courtesy of Rocklands TV.

To date, they have wowed through frenetic energy and punk rock idealism. Now, they are pulling from the emotional power of Fightmilk and the isolating but melodic drama of Brett Anderson’s cannon to forge a new way. It’s pop music! It’s electro! It's indie. It’s Linda Thompson on acid.

The Outers' sound is further enriched by adding fuzzy synths and moonlit howls on the guitar, creating a sense of alienation akin to Suede. Frontwoman Ade’s vocal performance is a career-best, carrying the pop immediacy of Ninja (The Go! Team) and the playful energy of Sonya Madan (Echobelly). It’s a vocal style that echoes the dreams we all had for Polystyrene (X-Ray Spex) in her later years-playful, urgent, soulful, folksy, and defiant as hell.

After dazzling in Brighton for Kick Out of the Jams for the Alternative Escape this week, The Outers have kicked off 2024 with one hell of a bang.

Afflecks Palace – You Are The Answer

Manchester’s Afflecks Palace returned last week with their new single, ‘You Are The Answer’. It was produced by their frontman, J Fender, and will be released on their label, Spirit of Spike Island.

Their trademark lysergic guitars remain, but they’re now clashing with the jagged edges of early REM and motorik drums. The culture clashes have breathed a vibrancy into their sonic vision that surpasses what are already two fine albums.

Artwork & image courtesy of Spirit of Spike Island.

On a lyrical level, 'You Are The Answer' is a poignant exploration of self-doubt and the relentless creative struggle to overcome it. This rock ‘n’ roll desperation propels the band to new heights, hinting that as we age, we must “run faster than you ever run” to chase those teenage dreams.

‘You Are The Answer’ is the sound of a band getting older and wiser, knowing its last chance saloon. Kaleidoscopic guitars and ethereal production appear fleetingly, allowing Fender’s message of seize the day (“breathes new life deep into theses lungs / inhale the flames and spit them out the fire”) to take a powerful stranglehold.

What began as a reimagining of a bygone Manchester has now spread its wings far beyond their home. They’ve enveloped more influences and spat out a more focused, universal, and desirable ode to their roots and, crucially, a vision for the future.

Jamie Reid, Simon Emmerson, & Youth – Ancestors

Sex Pistols and Suburban Press collaborator Jamie Reid and Simon Emmerson (Afro Celt Soundsystem) both tragically passed away in 2023. Before they parted, they hooked you with the iconic producer Youth to make ‘Ancestors’, the premier release on Youth and Alan McGee’s new label ‘Creation Youth’.

*Artwork courtesy of Creation Youth and Danny Watson

KLF’s tribal beats and Massive Attack’s grooves combine in the early part to conjure a hedonistic freedom worthy of Transglobal Underground. The bass-heavy grooves decay into a more destructive John Robb (The Membranes) sonic in the second half alongside a primitive Shapeshifter-era Robert Plant howl.

There’s a timelessness and purity to ‘Ancestors,’ which takes it from Castlemorton to 1968 to Don Letts. Stone Grove and Janette Sewell’s vocals are battle-weary after the last fourteen years but resilient. Frayed but stern in their defiance. Their belief in something better. Their hope for change!

Pastel: The Garage, London

Having sold out the Camden Assembly last October, Manchester’s Pastel were back in the capital to play to a packed crowd at The Garage.

Image Credit: Matthew Eynon. Courtesy of Spirit of Spike Island.

At the Assembly (Barfly), their latest single, ‘Your Day’, whilst good, was jarring. Its urgency countered their more blissed-out fan favourites. To great effect, this purposeful spirit was doubled down on at the garage—the former single opened proceedings with an aggressive front-foot mindset, which they rarely deviated from.  

With the intensity levels pulsating, the latest single, ‘Dancing On A Pin, ‘S.O.H.O,’ and previously unheard tracks fired out quickly. Breath only was taken when frontman Jack Yates asked us “to fund his haircut.” It was a masterclass in substance over style, allowing little time to comprehend what was happening—dizzying, mystical genius!

As the band led the room to the precipice, the release of ‘Isaiah’ was a divine moment, but it was ‘Deeper Than Holy’ that truly ignited the crowd. The song, previously well-received at Islington Town Hall and the Camden Assembly, took on a new life on this night, transcending the stage. The crowd arms aloft and wide, bellowed for it with an unhinged willingness to prove what it meant. Powerful, soul-freeing energy was released into a psychedelic haze of smoke and red lights as the band, and fans became unified in their shared experience.  

Pastel have now crossed over. The world is theirs. Their howling guitars the warning sirens for the world, get your shit together; systemic cultural change is nigh!

Dirty Blonde: Chinnerys, Southend

Last Friday, Manchester’s Dirty Blonde opened up for 00s icons The Subways at Chinnerys in Southend as part of the Indie Cult Club.

Images courtesy of Gas & Shutter and Indie Cult Club

Former single ‘Come Over’, an opener that could set fire to any setlist, emerged from the gutter dripping in sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll. Filthy basslines and snarling licks swelled with devilish temptation. 

A rock anthem with a three-act structure is hard to find, but they delivered just that on ‘Don’t Cry’. Allis McKay, delivering a rare angelic vocal, sowed the seeds of romantic betrayal and a vulnerability in the protagonist you immediately root for:

“Celebrating with a bottle of Tequila
Too busy dancing to have the chance to miss you
Oh no are you sad? Well read the signs”

McKay’s vocals were deliciously sniping and sardonic as she laid waste to the ex. The melodic euphoria coursing through the cringing bleakness of the lyric “I got a missed call from your ex” was a moment of juxtaposition to saviour. When Dirty Blond hits bigger stages, one young person from Manchester will be cowing at their parents, eating their mummy’s sausage and beans for comfort..

Then, in the closing stages, the solo fires out with Noel Gallagher’s early sense of freedom and Slash’s showmanship to give the protagonist ultimate closure.

Dirty Blonde's dramatic storytelling was enough to captivate the packed Southend crowd, but they didn't stop there. They closed their set with ‘Run’, a monstrous guitar record that blended Royal Blood's intensity with BRMC's leather-clad rebellion.

What Wolf Alice started in 2015, Dirty Blonde are destined to end with a thunderous jolt to the guitar scene!

Holy Youth Movement – The Next One

Bristol-based Holy Youth Movement, in collaboration with renowned producer Jagz Kooner (Primal Scream, Andrew Weatherall, Sabres Of Paradise), is set to make a comeback on the 25th of April via Ditto Label Services. This marks the release of their second single from the highly anticipated ‘Shock of the Future’ EP, scheduled for July.

Image & artwork courtesy of the band.

On ‘The Shock of the Future, ’ HYM was in a realm where dance and rock music roamed seamlessly together. Here, they’re leaning into their love of electronic music far more. The atmospheric build soundtracks a hopeful entrance into a smoke-filled room before you lose yourself in sweat and hedonism.

Frontman Tom Newman, so often an explosion of technicolour, remains in a hushed and measured groove, allowing the synths and Kooner’s production values to shine with a glitched euphoria somewhere between Bicep and Josh Wink.

The Rolling People – Before it’s Gone

Stockport outfit The Rolling People released their latest single, ‘Before It’s Gone,’ via The K’s record label LAB Records last week. It follows the intoxicating single ‘I’ll Be There’ and is the second single from their upcoming EP ‘I’ll Be There’ scheduled for release in the summer.

*banner image credit: Sharyn Bellemakers.

Where the previous single, ‘I’ll Be There,’ was a full-throttle affair, ‘Before It’s Gone’ steps back. Its sonic is more reflective, taking in all it surveys across cinematic horizons before marching confidently into battle to win at all costs.  

With a blend of explorative beauty reminiscent of Soundtrack Of Our Lives and the unifying power of 'Urban Hymns,' The Rolling People's guitars set out with a clear intent. Frontman Charlie McNichol’s ethereal “oo ah OO” cuts through the heavily loaded guitars, a unique element that signifies their side of the battle is the one to be on. Amidst the desire and angst to succeed, their purity and innocence flow, creating a captivating musical experience.

With two impressive releases in 2024, The Rolling People are not just making waves; they're shaping up to be one of the year's breakthrough bands.

Click the image below for tickets to their Manchester gig in December:

The Crooks – Wide Awake

Chestfield outfit The Crooks follow their comeback single ‘In The Meantime’ with ‘Wide Awake’. The self-released single comes ahead of their first tour since before the pandemic May. Let’s check it out.

*banner image courtesy of the band and This Feeling.

The acute Nick McCabe licks demonstrate that, this time around, The Crooks are more comfortable with creativity. There’s no rush to launch into the attack anymore. These licks fade into a furore of Ride and Chapterhouse shoegaze, allowing the psychedelic menace in the closing stages to take flight. Allowing the devil to rattle around in his cage for two-thirds makes his release devastating.

With his rock n roll power, Jacko often makes his presence felt from the beginning. His snarling but melodic intensity is a rare find. In 'Wide Awake ', he tempers it down, revealing a more aggressive version of Andy Bell. He stays in this lane, until he bursts into life alongside the blistering shoezgaze.

The vastness and cinematic arrangement is made all the more potent by the three-minute containment. The fleeting nature of all its parts elevates it to something remarkable.

Dodgy: Islington Academy, London

Last Friday, the veteran Dodgy played their 1996 album ‘Free Peace Sweet’ in full at the sold-out Islington Academy in London.

*images courtesy Stephen Fothergill.

What was their highest charting album of the time was to be their last for sixteen years (excluding ‘Real Estate,’ which frontman Nigel Clark did not feature). Despite the success of the album and singles alike, the band split in acrimonious fashion, not reforming until 2008.

What caused ructions around then has dissipated now. They easily recapture the youthful energy of ‘Trust In Time’ and ‘You’ve Gotta Look Up’. The former’s La’s jagged edges chime joyously with Clark and drummer Andry Priest’s sumptuous harmonies. Harmonies which truly take flight and soar on ‘You’ve Gotta Look Up’.

Despite the nostalgic joy that ‘Good Enough’ brings, it was, and is, former singles ‘In A Room’ and ‘If You’re Thinking of Me’ that lit up the album and this gig alike. ‘In A Room’ swayed with an ease that, rightly or wrongly, a generation of bands and media has tried to recapture. The poignancy of ‘If You’re Thinking of Me’ burrows straight to the heartstrings with its touching sentiment. Both catch fire creatively via Andy Miller’s guitar. The solo on ‘In A Room’ takes on a warped Stephen Stills number with intoxicating results. Whereas his blasts on ‘IYTOM@ tap into the majesty of Roger McGuinn's lysergic energy and Gene Clark’s jaw-dropping melancholy.

Cutting through West Coast and Laurel Canyon melodies was ‘U.K. R.I.P.’ cutting through their West Coast melodies with the hints of Transglobal Underground, trip-hop, and the Levellers’ trippier moments. Originally an anti-Britpop triumphalism rhetoric, it now takes on darker tones in a post-Brexit, post-Johnson, and post-Truss Britain.

Twenty-seven years on, Dodgy and ‘Free Peace Sweet’ still have something to say sonically and spiritually. Here’s to another twenty-seven.

The K’s – I Wonder if the World Knows

Last Friday, Earlstown band The K’s released their debut album, ‘I Wonder If The World Knows’ via LAB Records. What followed has been a titanic battle with The Libertines for the number-one album spot.

Image nad artwork courtesy of Sonic PR & Halestorm PR.

The Libertines’ debut album, ‘Up The Bracket’, captured the imagination of a generation twenty-two years ago. Its thoughtful rawness and poetic hit reset on a bloated Britpop and toxic nu-metal scene. 2024 is in a different galaxy to 2002, and so, for The K’s, their debut album is less about reimagining Albion and more about their survival within it.

In this environment, the pressure on bands to run to a perceived middle has often been too great, resulting in beige output. The K’s, like The Simpsons, CM Punk, and Martin Scorsese, always managed to walk the mainstream and underground tightrope simultaneously. Hinged on the partnership between singer-songwriter Jamie Boyle and lead guitarist Ryan Breslin, they take gritty anthems akin to The Jam and The Courteeners (circa St. Jude), such as ‘Hometown’. ‘Heart On My Sleeve’, and ‘Circles’ toward Blossoms, U2, and pop music.

Former single ‘Hometown’ witnesses a flawed protagonist embroiled in a downward spiral (“He’s so easily persuaded by his need to feel sedated / and the only way to get it is to empty all his wages”) set to blistering guitars. Just another indie-rock single? In truth, kind of, but, through Boyle’s vocals, the offshoots of something special lay. Straying between infectious, aggressive, and defiant, he adds another dimension to said blueprint.  

The fire of their early singles continues on ‘Heart On My Sleeve’. Imbued with desperation and enthralled by sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll, Boyle lays bare troubled co-dependence with people and alcohol. His tortured soul, threatening to go under at several points, is made utterly engrossing by Breslin’s guitars. Then, on ‘Circles, ’ Breslin takes his live showmanship to the studio, and The K’s begin to shed the angst-ridden debut album skin. Breslin, so adept, finds a way to make The Courteeners and The Enemy sound like U2. Throw in Boyle’s lyrical desperation to succeed, his Madonna via Phil Spector Girl Group vocal, and The K’s life as a cinematic force has begun.

The transcendence continues the album's big set pieces. ‘Hoping Maybe’ grows with Andrew Cushin's aching beauty and a modern take on the crooning glee of ‘Coles Corner'-era Hawley. Breslin’s guitars shimmer in moonlight skies as the band steps into the mainstream with rock classism at its finest.

In the age of destructive post-punk, where vocals have been a blurred mesh of spoken word and snarling punk, The K’s emergence is a game changer. This change is cemented on the ‘Lights Go Down’. It is a big romantic musical number, the kind that dangles a carrot in the middle of the road to come into a more exciting world. From Burt Bacharach to Noel Gallagher, to Scott Walker, they’ve written a song which will play out to England’s glorious defeat in World Cups for years to come.

There's an aching amplitude flickering needles and hearts alike throughout this fine debut album. Boyle’s diary entry-style lyrics and Breslin’s soaring universality allow people to attach their meaning to their anthems. It's a different world to the one The Libertines launched into, but The Ks have given rock ‘n’ roll an emotive anchor to Arcadia once more.

The Libertines - All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade

After Hyde Park in 2014, nothing else truly mattered to the band's fans. When Pete Doherty entertained the crowd with a rendition of ‘Albion’ as security fixed the barriers, Carl Barat emerged to join him. To see them sing Babyshambles’ finest moment restored faith that they were friends once more.

Artwork courtesy of Tony Linkin.

*banner image credit: Ed Cooke

With kinship renewed, ‘Anthems of a Doomed Youth’ emerged a year later. Considering all the struggles, the band were in “bonus” territory with fans. After the tragedy of losing Amy Winehouse, fans could accept an album of some brilliance but largely mediocre songs in return for their existence.

Nine years on, Doherty’s sustained period of sobriety led to a sober writing session with Barat in the Caribbean. ‘All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade’ (EMI), their fourth studio album might be the one! Then Louis Theroux showcased a Doherty seemingly as lost now as he has ever been.

It’s the hope that kills you!  

Like the opening half of Anthems for a Doomed Youth, The Libertines again toy with their past on former singles ‘Run Run Run’, ‘The Night of the Hunter’, and ‘Shiver’. The first two tap into the glory and odious failure alike. Pete and Carl toy with their addiction (“It’s a lifelong project of a life on the lash. / I forgotten how to care but I’ll remember for cash”) to the sound of Phil Spector and The Ramones. They evoke images of Camden’s bedraggled glory, and as they attempt to escape their inevitable final destination, “gonna live like it’s the end / I love you to death, but I must suggest / You’d better run, run, run boy”). Despite the reference points, the band are firmly in the present for once and reinvigorated them beyond recognition, showing their growth and potential for the future.

‘The Night of the Hunter’, a Pete-penned track that used the Robert Mitchum film of the same name as inspiration, holds an unnerving mirror up to their career. Their ability to use Mitchum’s big bad wolf character as a metaphor for their past catching up with them is an anxiety attack wrapped up in great poetry and a Swan Lake-esque riff. A fog consumes Doherty’s vocal innocence; free from drugs, but not from his own mind. A lost soul forever?

Through even more stark reflection, their collective trauma is laid bare on ‘Shiver’. What was it for? Why did we bother? Identity crises are not to be underestimated for men in their 40s. Many men fall to suicide, failing to find answers to these questions. The bravery, the heart, and the sheer guts for this band to exist, let alone be great again (and they are), becomes sensory overload for anyone who cared for them when they decree:

“Shiver for the Albionay”

The intertwining of their dreams of Arcadia and the Monachy’s recent changes are laced with playful preposterousness on a career-best vocal from Doherty. Hushed and ethereal, he summons images of pained stares into a mirror rueing everything and yet, knowing if it hadn’t happened, those outcomes would have been worse:

“Reasons to stay alive / not to die at 25”.

Closure? Probably Not.

They have masterfully manipulated the world they created in the 00s into the modern day. At other points, they move out of that realm completely to become topical for the first time. ‘Merry Old England’ paints a picture of post-Brexit England, greying from Empire failure and welcoming (or not) immigrants to the sound of Doherty’s solo career and Richard Hawley’s beauty. ‘Be Young’ continues this newfound form, examining global warming with blistering Dave Davies guitars and a playful Specials ‘Blank Expression’ breakdown.

Elsewhere ‘Oh Sh*t’ roars to the surface with Jamie T’s ‘Zombie’, THe Pistols, and The Ramones in its heart. Barat’s vocal, a snarling Scott Walker, oozes charisma on this tale of chancers whilst the sonic explodes boisterously but forever playfully.

Is ‘All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade’ the classic that they should have written in their twenties? No, but for the first time in two decades of near misses and regret, they’ve steered the Albion ship in its direction. With sustained sobriety and strong allegiances, the modern-day Burton and Taylor are beginning to define in terms of glory rather than defeat.

It’s the hope that makes you feel alive!