Given to the Wild - Maccabees - 2012 (Fiction)
I’m notorious for buying albums on a whim, because I like the cover, title or because it just looks cool, but this album was one I had been hearing about, though without hearing any of the actual music. Seemed like a lot of people were putting it in their “pick of 2012”, and granted these were people I didn’t know, but even so I wondered was there anything to all this high praise, or would this turn out to be yet another overhyped boring generic album (hello,
Night Visions!), with people going mad about some band who would induce nothing but the deepest shades of meh in me? Only one way to find out.
I was really quite amazed at what I found. Considering I have never heard of this band before, the level of quality and professionalism on this album just floored me. Every track just gets better as you listen to it, and there is no tipping point, no demarcation zone after which you can say well the album was great up to here but then it began to slide. It really doesn’t. Right up to the last track it holds the quality and keeps the attention, and the only real disappointment is that there are only thirteen tracks on it, because I would happily have listened to twice that.
If there is any letdown at all - and it’s a big if - it’s in the opener, which really doesn’t count as it’s not even a track as such, not even an instrumental, just two minutes plus of mostly ambient sound, with deep organs and sound effects, and a sort of softly chanted vocal basically consisting of the title, leading us into the first track proper, where it all gets going. The title track actually segues in on some nice laidback guitar into “Child”, acquainting us with the vocals of Orlando Weeks, the smooth basswork of Rupert Jarvis and the understated but no less great fret style of Felix and Hugo White, while brother Will makes some great horns sounds on the keys. “Child” is a slow enough song, but something I found to be a trademark of the Maccabees, at least on this, their only album I’ve heard to date, is that slow songs often pick up in tempo near the end, as this one does, kicking out the stays and rocking along nicely, taking us into what was their second single.
Amazingly to me, “Feel to Follow” did stupendously badly in the charts, not even breaking into the top 100. It’s a great uptempo track with a fine piano backbone, great vocal harmonies and a real sense of northern soul in it, with an infectious chorus. Halfway through it winds down for a few seconds before coming back strongly on the back of the Whites’ superb guitar work and some excellent percussion from Sam Doyle. This should have been at least a top ten single, and I could not tell you why this didn’t happen. In fact, none of their singles did well it would seem, but since when was that a hallmark of a good album? “Ayla” then dances along an a totally catchy rippling piano line and a hook to die for. Weeks is in fine form on this, and again though released as a single it seems to have bombed.
Another uptempo song, it rocks along with real purpose and features a little less of the guitar work from the White brothers, letting the keys come more to the fore, with some quite heavy percussion working almost in counterpoint. It’s the sort of song you’re still singing long after it’s finished, and we head towards “Glimmer”, with a really nice drum opening and some chimy guitar that kind of reminds me of Simple Minds at their best. Good slice of classic Prefab Sprout in there too, some really bright keyboards peppering the tune, then one of my favourite tracks on the album is “Forever I’ve Known”, a big, bouncy rocker with bags of enthusiasm and energy, though it starts off more like something out of Tom Waits’ catalogue, with screeching, howling guitars and echoey percussion, a slow laidback vocal, sort of a feeling of Native American melody about it before it picks up in about the third minute, the ease with which the previously somewhat discordant screeching guitar melds in with the melody and complements it truly impressive. A real example of a song building up to something special.
A guitar reminiscent of The Edge takes over then as the percussion gets stronger and more insistent, as it all falls back in the fourth minute on soft keyboard, coming back in on single guitar notes before the whole band punches back in to take the song to its powerful and energetic conclusion. Superb, a real standout. And they just keep coming, with “Heave” up next, introduced on a strings-style keyboard from Will White, a slow instrumental intro almost Floydesque in places, a soulful, almost mournful vocal from Weeks tearing at your heartstrings. It seems to be hard to know when you can class a song by these guys as a ballad, but “Heave” does seem to fit the bill, soft, shimmering percussion and lush keyboard supported by little guitar riffs, but then it kicks up in the third minute and becomes a pretty different animal. Certainly nobody could call this band predictable.
“Pelican” was the lead single, relatively well known I believe even though it also fell flat on its face chartwise, and it’s very much an upbeat song, with the lyric sung three times each line, so you get
”Before you know it, before you know it, before you know it/ You’re pushing up the daisies.” Probably one of the hardest rock tracks on the album, it’s driven on sharp guitar work from the Whites, with growling bass from Jarvis and punchy drumwork, the vocal almost African chant in nature in places. The beat really picks up in the third minute as the song goes into overdrive, and if you can keep your feet and fingers from tapping while listening to this, you’re a better man than I am. Another fast song then is “Went away”, though it starts off low-key enough, with simple synth lines and Weeks’ vocal sounding very much like Ricky Ross (no, not him! The one from Deacon Blue!), then guitars and drums launch in as the intensity of the track increases.
Like so many of The Maccabees’ songs, this gets dialled back for a moment before it comes storming back with a huge finish, keyboards and guitar joining, as the drums punch it forward and Weeks’ voice strengthens and gets more passionate, the tempo upping near the end then abruptly stopping, as what surely must be a drum machine brings in “Go” with sampler keyboards before they’re supplemented by heavier synth lines and joined by strong guitar from the White brothers. A tale of, I think, love trying to survive against the odds, it’s a vocal full of fire and passion from Orlando Weeks, and a nice little bass solo from Rupert Jarvis, with a big powerful punch of an ending.
An atmospheric synth melody then draws in “Unknow”, which features Catherine Pockson from The Alpines on vocals, Weeks’ own vocal returning almost to the keening, moaning style of the opener. The Whites power the song along on their twin guitars while the rhythm section lays down the backbone of the track along which Weeks winds his way vocally. Another hard powerful rocking track, it has some of the strongest guitar on the album, but Pockson is I feel somewhat wasted on it, being relegated to the background mostly. It’s not really till the last minute or so that she gets her chance to shine, and then she does extremely well. “Slowly One” is a much more low-key affair, almost an acapella opening, Weeks supported only by soft guitar on a sort of motown-ish vocal. It’s not till about halfway through that the song comes properly to life on the back of some wah-wah guitar and a powerful seventies-style keyboard. Nice sung instrumental ending (if you know what I mean; and if you don't, listen to the album!) with some great vocal harmonies.
“Grew Up at Midnight” ends the album, and like much of the work I’ve listened to here from this band it starts off slow but then really gets going. With a sort of church organ keys start, and a falsetto vocal, it seems to be a remembrance of youth and first love, picking up a little after the first minute but it doesn’t really hit its stride until nearly the third minute, with a big shouted chorus and a powerful guitar ending, then cutting off right at the end to return to the muted keys sound and end the album close to how it began.
TRACK LISTING
1. Given to the Wild (intro)
2. Child
3. Feel to Follow
4. Ayla
5. Glimmer
6. Forever I’ve Known
7. Heave
8. Pelican
9. Went Away
10. Go
11. Unknow
12. Slowly One
13. Grew Up at Midnight
It’s always gratifying to try something and find you really like it. This is even truer when it comes to music, because usually - though not always - this can lead to further new enjoyment as you then seek out the artist’s other work. I haven’t done that yet, but this is The Maccabees’ third album, so I’m definitely going to take a look at what they did prior to this. Just proves that sometimes hype can be correct, and also that just because your singles flop it doesn’t mean that your album isn’t worth listening to.
This went down, I think, as one of my top albums of 2012, or if not, that was only because I listened to it after I had already compiled my list. It’s certainly getting into my alltime top albums though, as this is one album that, no matter how many times I listen to it I still enjoy it, and in fact, sometimes relistening to it just reminds me how damn good it is.