They are a quartet from the southwest of England – this is their debut album – I have played it – all of it!! - every single day since I've had it – and I can't get enough of it – ten tracks of English indie that are an absolute joy – welcome to their world.
The album kicks off with “Killing Me” - and immediately this lone guitar riff rings and sings out over the crunchy drums as the bass hovers underneath and the vocals enter. That singer has this amazingly full-sounding, so emotive vocal that's absolutely distinctive, delivering the decelerated verses with such feeling, such range, such strength, it's wondrous. Then the band sail upwards, the vocal flies into the song's superb hook and chorus, and it all has the hairs standing up on the back of your neck, it's that special. The next verses are delivered with even more anguish and angst as that guitar rings out, the background of rhythm guitar and driving rhythm section all taking off once more into that glorious chorus as they expand the depth with a production that seems almost infinite, backing vocals adding to the depth and the whole song possessing this amazing sense of urgency, energy, emotion, bite, tension and warmth – it's just to die for – and this is just the beginning. “Old Fashioned” starts with shimmering guitar and shuffling percussion at a slower pace as the hushed vocal croons the verses with such delight. Then, with a crash of the drums, the band starts to cook and the singer rises to the occasion to sing the song's uplifting hook before it all drops back to the next verse, this time with even more of a guitar shimmer in the background. The song then lifts you up and takes you off into the next chorus only this time they take it even higher and you along with it before the drums take on this military beat, the wordless backing vocals add icing on the cake, the song twists into this middle eight as the singer now strengthens and that emotive urgency returns as he delivers the song with amazing feeling, the band keeping up with every word as the dynamics of the song rise and fall, until the finale comes with that sea of hooks flying high above the immense production, the depth of the band and the sheer sense of wide-eyed delight that is this gorgeously strong song.
“Could Have Been A Dancer” begins on a mid-paced shuffle as the drums take the lead, the bass throbs alongside, the bursts of guitar ringing and shimmering making its presence felt on top, a guitar hook of delightful simplicity, commanding your attention. Once more, above all this that singer just soars and flows, that voice just capturing your heart and soul inexorably, hypnotising you with its emotional range as the whole song has a kind of yearning, misty-eyed quality to its undoubted strength. “Us Against Them All” really seeds the singer's voice covering the range of which he is capable of delivering with consummate ease and total passion, the band driving forward with fast-ish lurching beats and guitars that burst out on top like slow-motion solar flares, ringing out like bells as the singer rises and dives, climbs even higher and the combination of his falsetto vocal hook with that singing guitar lead, set against the warmth of the backing vocal harmonies and the shudder of the rhythm section, leads to a song that is truly mesmerising. “Kiss Me” bursts into life with warm guitar rain as they shower down in the intro before dying away to reveal the slowly emotive vocal, delicate ringing guitar chords and subtly strong drums, when all of a sudden the singer bursts into the hook with suddenness that takes you by surprise, before it's then into the next part of the song, yet again lyrically full of emotion and delivered with absolute feeling from the heart, this time an added organ line providing even more textural range and depth to the subtle force of the rhythm section and those shimmering guitar chords, on a song that melts you every time you hear it yet totally transfixes you throughout, rising to a glorious finale of wordless vocals from the singer and the band gathering strength so that the combination is so uplifting you forget that you've actually forgotten to breathe for the last 30 seconds. “Harrier” is more of a sea of juddering rhythms, clipped vocals and deep guitars, before the thing accelerates, gathers strength, takes on an urgent vocal, adds the instrumental depth then charges through the verses to another high-flying chorus that takes you along in its wake once more, the song then twisting once more before taking off even higher into that memorably heady chorus, band and singer on fire as one.
“Lucy” is more urgent, the band really laying down the beats and riffs with expressive power, the addition of backing vocal harmonies over the hushed force of the sung verses and the sheer strength of the vocal chorus, merely adding to the whole intensifying effect as it all takes off and climbs, higher and higher, another chorus taking you into realms of pure ecstasy as band and singer rise as one into this surge of a song that hits the spot every time. “Lullaby” is just gorgeous – one absolutely sublime song that, complete with its ringing guitar lead, subtle percussion and deep bass, allows the singer to produce a vocal that is just jaw-dropping, slowly intense, full of feeling, initially mid-range and full of warmth before rising into the falsetto-laced chorus on a song that's just sublime, full of passion and emotion. Then the guitar starts to blaze and burn, but slowly as the drums crunch, the cymbals crash and the band lifts slowly off the ground, the singer returning to deliver those amazing choruses over the slowly rising band, before it all drops back to earth like seeds on a summer breeze. “Who Am I?” is just fantastic – two and a half minutes of surging indie anthem with a sea of verses to die for, a chorus to kill for, a performance to treasure, a band-played sense of purpose and conviction, a dynamic sensibility and strength of production and arrangement that is so uplifting, the very epitome of what makes a simple indie song so effective. The album ends with “Every Bone” as the band start at a slow-mid-paced beat with another vocal delivery of sheer emotional wide-eyed power that can't fail to tug at your heartstrings at the same time as blowing you away with its passion, the guitar once more singing out their chords as the rhythm section quietly but strongly flows ever forward. With dynamic bursts they lift off into another gem of a chorus as the song spirals up slowly, drops back, then takes off once again to end things with one seriously expansive sea of guitars, wordless vocals, crashing cymbals, crunchy drumming, deep bass and a production that towers over you as it finally subsides.
Jim on bass, Dan on drums, Dave on guitars and Ted on vocals – this is Rev 78 – and this is a set of songs that are truly timeless, emotionally charged, brilliantly sung, played, written and produced, all with the result that, if you want passion in your songs, they don't come much better than this – a gem bordering on genius!!