The Maccabees - Given to the Wild


As part of the NME's continual assault on giving everything "guitar"y excessive amounts of praise (whilst simultaneously condemning Kate Bush's 50 Words for Snow to a 7/10, the same score they gave to Britney Spears' Femme Fatale), the Maccabees have found themselves in a whirlwind of hype. They've totally escaped me until this, their third album, and ultimately I decided to download it because I needed something to wile away the time until the release of Born to Die.

So imagine my surprise when I discover one of the strongest, most fascinating British rock records in recent years. Of course, the possibility of them crossing over the Atlantic was effectively savaged by a typically anti-British Pitchfork review (who might as well respond to all UK acts in future with an ink stamp of "Not quite Radiohead", it'd be as ignorant) but at least here in our superior music-land (and I'm aware I'm playing with fire considering the majority of my readers are American, so please forgive me, but blame your hipsters) we've given them a high album chart placing - #4 being as good as anyone can hope for in the same week Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran and Adele's albums are halved in price.


Straight away the band channel their inner (Joshua Tree-era) U2 with a far-away intro, all echoing vocals and dream-sequences that subtly and sublimely gives way to 'Child', which follows quite blatantly in the footsteps of Arcade Fire and their debut Funeral, a joyous combination of frenetic instrumentation and serene vocals that made the Canadians giants, and deserves to make these Britons too. The instrumentation on 'Feel to Follow' is of a similar orchestration, but here Orlando Weeks puts on a quite unusually throaty voice that's a little distracting. Nonetheless, instrumentally it's fascinating. At times, though, the arrangements try a bit too hard - as on 'Ayla', which nobly but unsuccessfully combines a chipper piano tune with some "epic" brass sections and energetic riffs. The chorus has a pleasant sound to it, though.

"Why suppose? Oracles can let you know" ponders 'Glimmer', another sunlight-reflecting-on-the-sea track that delicately hovers between forgettable and beautiful and if it weren't sunny and warm at the moment I'd probably spit in its face, but for the timebeing it makes for a nice Spring record. 'Forever I've Known' however strips away all of the arrangements and opts for a daftly distorted riff that sounds more Travis than Elbow. This filters through into 'Heave', although some plucky moments halfway through save it from dreariness, and although the lyrics are largely nonsense the track hypnotises quite ably.

Before you fear they've just bashed out a kind-of Bloc Party serenity-fest, the band surprise you with 'Pelican', a devastatingly catchy rock tune that thrives off of a single twang. They merge this simplicity with some echoed chants of course, and the end result is...oh it only made #75 in the singles chart. Fuck this country. Similarly 'Went Away' steers the band into familiar territory (at least by their first two albums' standards) and is a great deal less likely to be met with cries of 'PRETENTIOUS!' If anything it's wholly inoffensive, and bright. 'Go' and 'Unknow' however err on the side of caution, and boast some quite baffling lyrics ("I was given these lungs and I won't be ashamed no more").


The show is brought to a fittingly sombre and gentle end with 'Slowly One' and its lingering strings but ultimately it's 'Grew Up at Midnight' that steals the show. Weeks' vocals are faultless here, and I don't know if it's just because the sun is setting here right now (I left the review alone for a few hours, what of it?) because it just makes for a fine ending. The album is universal enough to touch multiple audiences, and really should be making transatlantic success stories, but alas, Pitchfork are cunts. At least the UK can have an act refreshing and sweet enough to be proud of. The lyrics may stray from the realms of sense sometimes, and the music occasionally becomes too melodramatic for this to be a classic, but there're enough solid and endearing tunes for anyone to dislike it.

Rating: 8/10
Highlights: Grew Up at Midnight, Pelican, Glimmer, Child, Feel to Follow
Avoid: Forever I've Known

Artwork Watch: Not exactly Stonehenge is it?

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