“No bombing and no heavy petting, so just stay in your lanes. Verruca socks and not forgetting to just stay in your lines.”
Not many bands dedicate a whole song to a swimming pool, pounding out a chorus telling us “Latchmeres’ got wave machines,” and get away with it. It’s bizarre, lyrically incongruous to any other music of the period and downright idiotic, but it also just about worked. The Maccabees are one of the best examples of bands from the era that not only produced consistent albums after their debut, but actually grew as a band as a result. Their debut album Colour It In was great. High octane indie pop, catchy choruses and delicate acoustic tracks laced together to produce a compelling, interesting debut LP. ‘Good Old Bill’ opened it, a gentle, building entre before the drums kick in, the guitars rock and the band cry in unison ‘oh oh oh ohhh’ bringing the album to life. From there every track rumbled with its own identity. ‘First Love’ was the kicker, the one that brought most people in but the album had many high points. ‘Toothpaste Kisses’ rose above them all, a tender, simple love ballad that was impossible to resist: “Lay with me, I’ll lay with you. We’ll do the things that lovers do. Put the stars in eyes and with heart shaped bruises and late night kisses divine, I’ll be yours and you’ll be mine.”
At the other end of the scale were the upbeat, pulsing numbers such as ‘X-Ray’, ‘Mary’ and ‘About Your Dress’. ‘Mary’ especially was a thrilling song that built to a chaotic climax that was a riot live. Catching The Maccabees at that time was just a sweaty bundle of bodies scraping away. They were often part of the NME tours that ran the country with others such as The Automatic or The View present, but the Maccabees were always the draw band.
What’s more the band had that cool, classy charisma too them. Orlando Weeks, the lead singer, epitomised that completely: his slick image complimenting his aura on the stage. His voice was unique and interesting, completely different to any other indie band at the time. It had a rawness to it that crackled throughout the record, yet also a wholesome sort of depth. It had a strange warming presence that even at heights of musical mayhem would keep a constant calm and control to the song.
Any hesitation that they might follow in the footsteps of so many indie bands and screw up their next album was smashed two years later when they released Wall of Arms. From the opening chords of ‘Love You Better’ you knew they were back with something powerful. The style had changed, the frenetic nature almost calmed to a more polished mature sound, but it was only to the benefit of the band. It was a natural career development but one they pulled off with class. Musically they really had developed too. ‘Wall of Arms’ was the highlight of the album. It had a jazzy, free flowing element complete with trumpets, a welcome experimentation to their normal sound, before coming down at the end to a crashing finale. ‘Young Lions’ was another masterful addition, yet the lyrics were now more metaphorical and ambiguous than the more literal ‘Latchmere’ days. And still they didn’t lose the energy of their first albums, songs like ‘William Powers’ generating the same kind of frenetic passion of their early work. ‘Bag of Bones’ ended it, a beautiful swirling closer which hinted at the direction the band would take with their next effort.
For they didn’t stop there. In 2012 they came back with Given to the Wild arguably their strongest record yet. In many ways it’s completely different to ‘Colour It In’ yet also very evidentially the same band. Much like Wall of Arms grew out of Colour It In, Given to the Wild came out of that. Though the unique sound and style still remained, they had progressed so much. It was almost comparable to Bon Iver’s second LP at times in terms of its willingness to explore Orlando Weeks vocal ability and his higher vocal range. Musically there was less emphasis on the heavy crashing drums and raked guitars to produce a more elegant, intoxicating sound. ‘Ayla’ for example was driven by a piano, yet was still very much The Maccabees. It was more sonically experimental, with a more rounded and fuller sound. ‘Pelican’ deservedly won the Ivor Novello for ‘Best Contemporary Song’ something unimaginable with songs like ‘X-Ray.’ That is not to say that those were bad songs, because they weren’t but to win an Ivor Novello requires more and The Maccabees had provided it. It was one of the best albums of 2012, a true album of quality. It’s the kind of album you can go back to again and again and never tire, learning something new with each take.
And that’s where they are at now. The new album is supposedly not far away and it is an exciting countdown to when it’s released. If they continue at the current rate it has the potential to be a truly great record. Many bands produce a debut they can never quite live up to, but The Maccabees have done the opposite and learned and grown with every album, and they are owed every compliment for it. Hopefully the development continues and they continue to fly a flag for British Indie music. The world needs no more songs about swimming pools.
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