Written 24th
February 2014
Reverend
and the Makers – Thirty Two
The Band: Jon McClure (lead vocals/guitar),
Ed Cosens (guitars/bass/backing vocals), Joe Carnall (bass) Jimmy Welsh (drums),
Laura McClure (vocals/keyboards)
This week
sees the release of Sheffield’s own Reverend and the Makers fourth album ‘Thirty
Two’, their follow-up to 2012’s '@Reverend_Makers' (reviewed in Flynndie Reviews #28), which was a triumphant success for the band despite little mainstream
radio airplay or television appearances and in my opinion a great-sounding,
dance and Indie-pop record in itself. While
that third record’s title showed an obvious nod to social media site Twitter,
their latest album title ‘Thirty Two’ is perhaps a hint at The Reverend; Jon
McClure’s coming of age.
However,
before we dive straight into the review of this album, I think it’s well worth
a mention of how the band have gone about repaying fans that have invested in
the new record via Pledge Music, with Jon and Ed actually taking the time out
to tour round the country in a camper van and play intimate acoustic gigs in
fan’s homes. Yes this band actually come
round to your house and play in your front-room! I think this was a brilliant personal touch
and a great gesture to repay the band’s die-hard fans known as the RevArmy and
you can check out some video links of the small, fun and rowdy performances (one
of which even included a marriage proposal! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L7EJwL5AFM)
at the end of this review.
Thirty Two
1.
Detonator
2.
I Spy3. The Devil’s Radio
4. Nostalgia
5. Happy Song
6. Different Trains
7. Time
8. Old Enough (To Know Better)
9. Play Me
10. The Only One
11. Your Girl
‘Detonator’
launches the Reverend’s latest offering and with its sparkling synths and bass-heavy
rhythm it makes no secret of the very much dance-vibe this album smacks of
throughout while Jon is in full-flow with sexual innuendos “You’re no agitator/More a spectator/I’ll take ya somewhere/We can hit
your detonator”. With more industrial
synths pumping away at it, ‘I Spy’ continues the early up-tempo melody of the
LP with a chilled Ibiza Club rhythm coursing through its veins and some great
verses “Tell me what are we doing
here?/You control all my strings like a puppeteer/I’m a ship lost at sea but I’m
yours to steer”. This is a track
that will sound great in the summer sun.
‘The Devil’s Radio’ has a much more familiar Reverend and the Makers
sound about it, fast and fun with a delightfully underlying Ska rhythm to it
that sees the band much more at the roots of their sound from debut album ‘The
State of Things’ and is a very much an instant track on the album, it’s lyrics
suggesting that gossip is indeed ‘The Devil’s Radio’.
With
brass-sounding synths, trumpets and steel-drums ‘Nostalgia’ has very much a jolly
Reggae and Caribbean flavor about it and features a great, reflective opening
line “We all love a little nostalgia/It
isn’t what it used to be/Tamagochi, Trolls and Crocodile Dundee”. Yes Crocodile Dundee himself gets name checked
on the latest Makers record! It’s a
light-hearted track that bounces and flows and is likely to be a live favourite
with its sing-a-long “La, la-la-la-la's”
throughout. ‘Happy Song’ is the slower,
ballad track of the record and reminded me of ‘Sex with the Ex’ again from the
band’s debut record, with a similar sound and pacing as that track and after
the fast tempo of the opening four tracks this track sits well at this stage of
the record. ‘Different Trains’ picks up
the pace again, another large-sounding upbeat track and sees vocal duties here
shared between bassist Joe and Jon with each line through the verses “I invented penicillin while I found a
plaster/I’ve got 50 caps, I’ve just got the one” before it’s chorus “And now the hare and the tortoise roll into
town/There’s no need to worry, you don’t have to hurry/We’re two different
trains”. ‘Time’ has very electronic
buzz about it and is another synth-driven track with a strong catchy bridge midway
through it “Don’t ya wanna go outside/In the
sunshine sometimes” and is another confidently assured Reverend and the
Makers style track.
With
another fast and urgent rhythm ‘Old Enough (To Know Better)’ is another solid
track on the record with guitars and keyboards jamming along frantically as one
while Jon belt’s out the track-title over the chorus “She says I‘mmmmm/Old enough to know better”, while ‘Play Me’ sees
a sudden halt in pace on the record, featuring a piano ballad backed with lovely
Beatles-esque string-sections and generally being an all-round charmer of a
track. ‘The Only One’ was previously the
first single lifted off the album and is large sounding pure guitar-driven Indie-pop
with a polished chorus “I want you to
make me feel like I’m the only one/The only one” being perfect for radio
airplay so get it out there! Closing
track ‘Your Girl’ was the first preview we got of the new Makers album,
initially being made available as a download for those that pre-ordered the
album from the Pledge Music site and what a closing track we have here. With an industrialist, scuzzy, dirty rhythm
and melody to it that smacks of the Prodigy from their ‘Fat of the Land’ days,
this is a strong, buzzing closing track that doesn’t pull any punches “Your girl’s got you wrapped around her
finger/And your girl is the reason that you don’t ring us…We’ve turned to
calling you the pilot light/Because you won’t be going out tonight” and in
my opinion this track sees the album finish on a real high.
So overall
‘Thirty Two’ seems like a fluid, natural progression from Reverend and the
Makers’ previous album '@Reverend_Makers' and much like its predecessor has a
positive banging dance-vibe at its core.
For me in particular ‘Detonator’, ‘The Devil’s Radio’, ‘Different Trains’
and ‘The Only One’ are all solid tracks and closer ‘Your Girl’ is a “proper
banger!” In particular, and as has
always been the case with Reverend and the Makers’ records, Jon’s lyrics are intelligent
and diverse almost somewhat poetic and again finds him on good form here. For me the album doesn’t quite reach the heights
of their debut record ‘The State of Things’ but this is still a good record and
certainly a strong follow-up to '@Reverend_Makers' while tracks like ‘The Devil’s
Radio’ and ‘The Only One’ would sound great with some radio airplay so get behind
them. Throw in some nice, gentle tracks (‘Happy
Song’, ‘Play Me’), some underlying Ska (‘The Devil’s Radio’) and a Caribbean-Reggae
influenced sound (‘Nostalgia’) and the record starts to show more range with a
few more listens and I’m going award this one a solid 7 Detonators out of 10
and would recommend to go and check this album out!
Thirty
Three
Flynny
Track 10
‘The Only One’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAj5Plq4r9o
Track 11 ‘Your
Girl’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgJcilSxXbo
Reverend
and the Makers Newcastle house-gig #1 of #32HouseGigs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh1ropH_VLY
Reverend
and the Makers Whitehaven house-gig #5 of #32HouseGigs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7uqZKezdes
‘Miss
Brown’ acoustic private house-gig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEC3CPO5_D8
Band
Website:
http://www.reverendandthemakers.com 
