Gold Medal Position: Blind Faith – Black
“Blind Faith is an exercise in restraint, the guitar work of long-term associate and album co-writer, Calum MacColl, forms wonderful structures, sonic bubbles that often do little more than frame the songs allowing atmosphere and anticipation to undertake the lions share of the work. The rhythms and back-beats support and steer the songs rather than invade their space and even Mikey Rowe’s keyboards exist just on the edge of earshot. If awards were handed out for tranquillity, this would get the Nobel Peaceful Prize.”
Read the full review HERE
Silver Medal Position: All Aboard – Plummie Racket
“The lyrics are typically his kitchen sink dramas and small town story lines that come at you like a council estate Alan Bennett on speed, riffing reminiscences and blunt social commentary to a squalling indie-punk soundtrack. Plummie is building an identity as a swaggering bad boy, hovering on the edge of the mainstream and although compromise probably isn’t a strong point, it wouldn’t take much from either side to see him cross over into more lucrative pastures.”
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Bronze Medal Position: Paris of America – The Payroll Union
“This album already sounds like a future classic of the Americana genre and I can imagine that there are certain parties over in the former colonies who hate the fact that this band came not out of somewhere apt such as urban Pennsylvania or the rolling landscape of West Virginia but from an unlikely former steel town in South Yorkshire.”
Read the full review HERE
