THE MACCABEES- No kind words

I thought The Maccabees used to be some kind-of scene indie band. Well, they pretty much still are but now in a slightly less obvious-guitar-based way, according to this single anyway. Having swapped their previous poppy approach for what seems like a more mature take on song-writing -(well, they DO have a singer called Orlando and a guitarist called Hugo, so I can see where they’re coming from), what they have only really achieved by doing so is the potential alienation of their prior audience (which, one can assume, consisted of the type of kids that worshipped Pete Doherty and Preston from the Ordinary Boys). Preston was incidentally on GMTV this morning speaking with an accent that betrays his Essex roots perhaps also in a vain attempt to gain a more sophisticated fanbase and, instead, just appearing more than a bit laughable.

I digress. Having worked with Marcus Dravs- the producer responsible for Coldplay and Arcade Fire- at least at the beginning of the track, this has resulted in a considerably more sombre sound than we are used to from The Maccabees, a rather glum vocal over what can only be described as a ‘dark’ bassline and guitar work belonging to Snow Patrol at their most anthemic, before launching into a pop-rock nod to The Automatic and the like (except with the glum vocals rather than the shouty bit). And all THIS achieves is a contradiction of their stance as anti-rock and roll heroes when they are so obviously following the path of some of the most generic bands in modern music (either that, or it’s been done so ingeniously that it really doesn’t need mimicking). The contrast of styles and the pretentious press release propoganda doesn’t make this band any more intriguing and certainly not any more interesting unfortunately. “If you’ve got no kind words to say, then you should say nothing more”. OK, I’ll leave it there then.

Anna C