The Maccabees | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Hailing from South London, kinetic indie rockers the Maccabees formed in 2004 around vocalist Orlando Weeks, guitarists Hugo and Felix White, bassist Rupert Jarvis, and drummer Robert Dylan Thomas. The groups first single, "X-Ray," was released on Promise Records in November of 2005, and thanks to a strong XFM-Radio showing, the Maccabees were able to garner opening spots on an Arctic Monkeys tour. Fierce Panda picked up the second single, "Latchmere," issuing it in the spring of 2006. The bands full-length debut, Colour It In, came out on Fiction Records a year later. Thomas left the band in 2008 and Sam Doyle was recruited to step in behind the kit. For their second album, 2009s Wall of Arms, the band worked with producer Markus Dravs, who also collaborated with the Arcade Fire. Main stage slots at the Reading and Leeds Festivals would follow, then the band took two years off to write and record. The results, the album Given to the Wild and its lead single "Pelican," arrived in early 2012. The LP hit the Top Five in the U.K. and received a Mercury Award nomination for album of the year. The Maccabees started recording their fourth full-length in 2013, but after citing struggles settling on a production style, no new material appeared until the single "Marks to Prove It" arrived in May 2015. Attempting a sound closer to their live performances than on prior albums, the more immediate Marks to Prove It followed in late July. On August 8, 2016, after four albums and over a decade as a band, the Maccabees announced their breakup. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 5 Title: Colour It In Released: 2007-04-23 Tracks: 12 Duration: 35:32 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 X-Ray (03:17) 2 All in Your Rows (02:36) 3 Latchmere (03:01) 4 About Your Dress (02:15) 5 Precious Time (04:17) 6 O.A.V.I.P. (02:20) 7 Tissue Shoulders (02:29) 8 Happy Faces (02:51) 9 First Love (03:04) 10 Mary (03:31) 11 Lego (03:12) 12 Toothpaste Kisses (02:39) |
| Colour It In : Allmusic album Review : Futureheads fans beware. Theres someone else threatening to take away the title of best harmony singing, guitar-wielding band in town: the Maccabees. The five-member Brighton (by way of South London) group use the same angularly warm riffs, pounding guitars, occasional background yelping, and quick, syncopated, catchy melodies that brought stardom to the Futureheads (and, to a lesser extent, Bloc Party and Interpol, both of whose influences can also be heard here), and while they dont necessarily add much more of their own to the formula on their debut full-length, Colour It In, (the few bars of harmonica on the fantastic "Latchmere" dont count), they follow it well enough that it doesnt really matter. Lead singer Orlando Weeks has a wonderfully animated voice -- moving from pained and annoyed in "Tissue Shoulder" to smitten in the rolling "About Your Dress" to dramatic and emotional in the poppy "O.A.V.I.P." -- rich and just a little rough, which keeps the fact that the chords, the arrangements, and the rhythms of the album are all rather similar a show of strength, of realizing where your assets lie instead of signaling a lack of versatility. Weeks brings life and individuality to each of the songs, though, to be fair, his bandmates bright arpeggios, sharp like broken glass, sixteenth-note, tom-filled drum lines and heavy bass dont make his job very hard. Colour It In bursts with vitality and youthfulness, with thick London accents and falling in love and breaking rules and simply enjoying ones self. So while the album may sound like its been done before, its just expressing the fact that all the things theyre singing about, that all bands are singing about, really, have been done before, too. The Maccabees are in touch with the times theyre living in, with the music and the energy around them, picking up on the trends they hear (i.e. the Futureheads, Dogs Die in Hot Cars) but only in a way that compliments their influences, making Colour It In an enjoyable, even if ephemeral, record. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 5 Title: Toothpaste Kisses EP Released: 2007-10-10 Tracks: 5 Duration: 10:19 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Toothpaste Kisses (02:42) 2 Precious Time (acoustic version) (02:28) 3 Sleep (01:21) 4 Sleepless George (01:52) 5 Wake Up, Go to Sleep (01:56) |
 | Album: 3 of 5 Title: Wall of Arms Released: 2009-05-03 Tracks: 11 Duration: 37:19 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Love You Better (03:20) 2 One Hand Holding (03:01) 3 Can You Give It (02:55) 4 Young Lions (03:00) 5 Wall of Arms (03:04) 6 No Kind Words / Bag of Bones, Part A (03:39) 7 Dinosaurs (03:16) 8 Kiss and Resolve (03:07) 9 William Powers (03:30) 10 Seventeen Hands (03:46) 11 Bag of Bones, Part B (04:41) |
| Wall of Arms : Allmusic album Review : Maccabees first album, Colour It In, was more than a little indebted to the Futureheads, Bloc Party, and the other U.K. acts who popularized urgent tempos and angular riffs in the mid-2000s, but the band drastically renovates their sound on Wall of Arms. However, its still easy to hear where they get their inspiration. Theyve traded their formerly scrappy approach for a style that borrows the Arcade Fires anthemic sweep -- its no coincidence this album was produced by Arcade Fire collaborator Markus Dravs. On "Can You Give It," singer Orlando Weeks previously marble-mouthed vocals have morphed into something closely resembling Win Butlers tremulous keen, and the rest of the song follows suit, with galloping drums and handclaps that lead the way to massive choruses with a dramatic ebb and flow. Even though the band shows its influences just as transparently as they did on Colour It In, they sound much more confident and comfortable -- in fact, they seem downright eager to display their newfound skills and polish: the brass on "Young Lions" and throughout the album underscores the majestic levels that Maccabees try to reach. Wall of Arms is bookended by "Love You Better" and "Bag of Bones," both of which are far slower and more patient about showing off their goods than any of Maccabees earlier work; likewise, the band would have been too hyperactive to attempt "Seventeen Hands" thoughtful-yet-jubilant reflections on love and marriage on Colour It In. However, they havent totally abandoned their pop instincts. "One Hand Holding" and "Dinosaurs" boast sing and shout-along choruses, and "Kiss and Resolve" plays like a more grown-up take on their bouncy insistency. Crucially, despite the more sedate tempos and outlook, these songs feel truly purposeful. And even if Maccabees still arent stunningly original, theyve made a significant step forward with Wall of Arms. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 5 Title: Given to the Wild Released: 2012-01-09 Tracks: 13 Duration: 52:55 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Given to the Wild (intro) (02:11) 2 Child (04:31) 3 Feel to Follow (03:29) 4 Ayla (03:47) 5 Glimmer (04:03) 6 Forever Ive Known (05:21) 7 Heave (04:27) 8 Pelican (03:44) 9 Went Away (03:39) 10 Go (04:12) 11 Unknow (05:09) 12 Slowly One (04:17) 13 Grew Up at Midnight (04:00) |
| Given to the Wild : Allmusic album Review : One of the few guitar bands to overcome the general apathy toward the British indie scene of late, South London-based five-piece the Maccabees achieved their first Top Ten hit with their critically acclaimed third album, Given to the Wild, an intelligent blend of experimental rock and multi-layered cinematic pop said to be inspired by acts as diverse as Kate Bush, the Stone Roses, and David Bowie. Produced by the likes of Tim Goldsworthy (LCD Soundsystem, Massive Attack) and Cenzo Townshend (Kaiser Chiefs, New Order), the follow-up to 2009s Wall of Arms includes the singles "Pelican" and "Feel to Follow." | ||
 | Album: 5 of 5 Title: Marks to Prove It Released: 2015-07-31 Tracks: 11 Duration: 41:24 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Marks to Prove It (04:15) 2 Kamakura (04:00) 3 Ribbon Road (04:24) 4 Spit It Out (05:09) 5 Silence (03:19) 6 River Song (03:11) 7 Slow Sun (04:13) 8 Something Like Happiness (03:44) 9 WW1 Portraits (03:18) 10 Pioneering Systems (02:31) 11 Dawn Chorus (03:20) |
| Marks to Prove It : Allmusic album Review : After having their highest-charting album to date in the U.K. with 2012s Top Five and Mercury Prize-nominated Given to the Wild, the Maccabees hit some rough waters in the recording process for their fourth studio long-player, with the bandmembers reporting that they struggled to settle on a production style. They eventually attempted to create a replicable live sound more so than on prior studio albums, particularly the aforementioned cinematic Wild. The result is the more immediate but still weighty and expressive Marks to Prove It. It follows the example of its predecessor in sharing a more pensive, weary tone than prior releases, so it doesnt feel like a departure as much as a subtle maturation spelled out in lyrics like "Your best friends forgive you/Your best friends forget you get old." The record is also peppered with glimmering synths, loaded with guitar effects, and visited by brass and sax solos, as on "Dawn Chorus," so theres no stagnation in sound resulting from the attempted reeling in of design. The rockin lead-single title track is an exception to the deliberate pacing of the rest of Marks to Prove It and is a highlight, if not the highlight, of the record. A galloping, guitar-chugging tune with switching meters, big drum fills, and vocal wails, the lyrics again reflect a jaded, existential outlook, observing "Over the summer a lot changed/And they all changed to keep up with it....Take a photo of it/Come back years on and wonder why you took it." In contrast, the piano-led "Silence" offers the albums most delicate delivery (with vocals by guitarist Hugo White), but not without dissonant guitar noise and spoken-word samples. Somewhere in between, "Spit It Out" is remindful of early U2 in its driving, determined wistfulness, and "River Song" is a howling, saxophone-enhanced power waltz. Overall, Marks to Prove It feels a bit anxious, but thats not necessarily to its detriment, and four LPs in, the Maccabees are still making smart and sophisticated Brit guitar rock. | ||