THE SKINNER BROTHERS
SOUL BOY II
9/10
Album opener’ Mountain High’ sets this remarkably fresh album’s highly addictive tempo, mood and (walking home pissed) path. The bastard offspring of Beck, Primal Scream and anything involving Shaun Ryder, The Skinner Brothers drop a crate of lager hurling tunes for a new, old and casual nation. The first cut crashes through a host of snobby genre parties guzzling champers and lobbing vegan vol-au-vents at frightened onlookers. The marching powder beat drifts from heart-racing pogo to wasted come down lethargy. The early album anthems continue with’ Put Me Down As A Maybe’ and its ‘I’m a loser baby” riff, street sucked lyrics. Its waved away delivery makes it 6Music certainty.
‘M.O.R.E’ speaks of getting “snotted twice” before kicking out a, I’m still standing message which mercifully swerves the cliche pit and motors past with the laconic vocals riding shotgun. ‘Low’ is a mainstream banger that grabs the middle of the road Stereophonics generation by the throat and screams, ‘this is what you could have been!” ‘Away Days Acoustic’ has more than a passing Jamie T resonance, while ‘1000 Reasons Why’ shoves a shivering Britpop back into the warm flickering neon glow of decades past.
(Although it may be twenty years too late for TFI Friday, Soccer AM will surely take to the songs chanting melody and f*cking run with it.) ‘Told You So’ feels like filler, whereas ‘Culture Non-Stop’ has an understated depth that feather dusts Santi Gold snuggling Iggy plus some streaky fretwork and a tambourine shaking chorus that transports it to yet another uncategorisable dimension. The sing-a-longs arrive in the form of a quite brilliant, late-night kebab sauce smothered ‘Give It All To Me’. ‘Iconic’ and the emotive ‘Stupid Much’ gives way to the final cut ‘Way Too Far’. This is a devastatingly more-ish release of stage strutting, attitude, pomp and heart.
‘Soul Boy II’ is released on Monday 28th February.
For a full list of UK dates and further band information head over to the band’s Facebook page.