Reverend and the Makers - A French Kiss in the Chaos

When Reverend and the Makers released debut album, The State Of Things, there was more than just a buzz. People in indie discos across the land were rubbing their skinny jean-clad thighs Vic Reeves-style and rambling incoherently about the birth of a new Messiah. Could it be that this new Sheffieldian wordsmith had churned out an album as catchy, fresh and socially relevant as flatmate Alex Turner’s band’s brilliant debut? The answer it turned out was no, and McClure was no more of a Messiah than the kid we see begging outside our local HSBC. But the album was good. Very good, and ‘Heavyweight Champion of the World’ was easily one of the best singles of 2007.

But then everyone sort of forgot about them. McClure spend the interim pissing about trying to form indie supergroups, and their other big radio hit ‘He Said He Loved Me’ had become a little, well, annoying. But, now they’re back, free from NME-heaped expectation and with a new album with a new drummer, that’s really rather ace indeed.

New single ‘Silence is Talking’ kicks things off in glorious style; its scuzzy Kasabian bassline dissected by a sunshiney 70s horn sample lifted from War’s ‘Low Rider’ (or, as us simple folk remember, an old Marmite ad). ‘Hidden Persuaders’ which follows, is a tight rock number that simmers then soars in a way Doves have patented as their own, and ‘No Wood Just Trees’ is a chanty treat that would’ve slotted in nicely on their first album.

Things dip a bit in the middle. ‘Long Long Time’ is a bit shit-county-love-song and ‘Manifesto/People Shapers’ doesn’t whip us into much of a frenzy, but then the upbeat and dancey ‘Mermaids’ gets things going again, with ‘The End’ doing the Kasabian electro-guitar thing once more, and wrapping things up (we don’t count the laboured ballady last song) in the assured and lively way in which the album started.

When they’re good, they’re really good. And when they’re not good, they’re still alright. And until the Arctic Monkeys new album falls into our excitable hands next month, the Reverend and his music makers will do us very nicely indeed.

We test all our albums on a NaimUniti stereo. If we were testing for sound quality, every album would get five stars. But we're good little journalists, so we can't. Check out more at www.naimaudio.com. They make good stuff, believe us.