I have to read the email title twice, nay, three times: ‘Northern Uproar Return With Beautiful Spanish Influenced Album’. If ever a band was capable of inspiring Mr Agreeable type expletive-strewn tirades, Northern fucking Uproar is on the list. Several times. These buggers epitomise everything that was shit about the Britpop era. How are they back? Needless to say I find the idea that they’ve returned with a ‘beautiful’ album beyond belief, and that said album is Spanish-influenced beyond laughable.
But it’s been 20 years, and the surviving members of the band are older and wiser, so maybe, just maybe, ‘Hey Samurai!’ deserves a chance.
Well. To say the Spanish influence is subtle would be an understatement. Chucking in a couple of maraca shakes and a bit of castanet action doesn’t make for a ‘Spanish influenced’ album and the laid-back lilt of ‘Chasing Demons’ is more cheese and chive than salsa – with the emphasis on the cheese.
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’24 Hrs/24 Days’ evokes the spirit of Madchester in the most insipid fashion, with some bongo action bubbling beneath a nagging clean guitar line, and ‘Outlaws Robbing Trains’ sounds like the pseudo-urban grind of Kasabian on a bad day. ‘Keep Getting Away’ id middle-of the-road Americana tinged indie, but at least it’s not as bad as the cornball trumpet-parping ‘Jackals’. ‘Everlasting Rain’ is the worst of loungecore. Then ‘Start it all Again’ chimes in. Fucking hell. Needless to say ‘secret track’ ‘Rodriguez the Bull’ should remain a secret.
Yes, ‘Hey Samurai!’ is the sound of a more mature band. It’s also painfully dull indie dreck.
Northern Uproar Online
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