Album review: The Maccabees

The Maccabees
Colour It In

Release date: May 7th 2007
Label: Fiction Records
Website: www.themaccabees.co.uk

Rating: 4 out of 5

Let’s not beat around the bush – this is essentially noughties new-wave indie. You’ve heard a lot of stuff like it, but that’s no reason to write The Maccabees off. Singer Orlando Weeks’ quirky vocal delivery may take some getting used to – it’s a bit Dexy’s Midnight Runners – but persevere and you’ll soon uncover a voice that is robust, tender and richly emotive.

About Your Dress and Precious Time are great songs – catchy, inventive and with bags of energy and flair. O.A.V.I.P. is quite Smiths-y, with an addictive backbeat and a great vocal performance from Weeks. Lego is high-octane emotion, urging you on and daring you not to love it.

First Love is a pure rush of endorphins, perfectly capturing the delightful mania and frenzy of unfettered lust/love. Latchmere is a delight - a quintessential British pop song, harking back to days spent at the leisure pool, larking about and generally getting up to no good.

It’s the tinge of existential sadness that elevates the song above the humdrum: “Came out of the changing room and absolutely fuck all had changed/ So I’ll stay in your lanes”. The album closes with the skiffle-shrug of Toothpaste Kisses, a whimsical and lovely song that sets the heart a-flutter.

Showing more than enough promise to be getting on with, The Maccabees have the charm and the talent to win over even the hardest indie heart.