It’s pretty well documented that I like beer. Traditional, real ale, supped in real, traditional pubs. So the picture inside the cover of this album, which features the members of Mancunian four-piece its a buffalo (all lower case, no apostrophe, the awkward and grammatically dubious gits) sitting sporting waistcoats, bow ties and serious expressions while supping pints from handled glasses made me think they might be quite interesting and earnest chaps.
Kicking off with ‘Marbles’ and running straight into ‘Somewhere in Range’ the tone of ‘Don’t be Scared’ says neither ‘spiffing’ nor ‘it’s grim oop north,’ and isn’t heavy with gloom and melancholy either. In fact, despite meditating on being unemployed and destructive relationships (on single ‘Seaslide’), and working through feelings of anxiety, loss and separation, ‘Don’t be Scared’ is a jangling, country-tinged and largely jaunty outing. ‘Broken Toy’ is a skifflesome countrified knees-up of a number. But make no mistake, they’re no purveyors of gun-toting, yee-hah cowboy tunes, and what’s more, they’re quite a sweary bunch, as demonstrated on ‘Divorce Song.’ Well, they do admit to their music being ‘very Mancunian.’ Most importantly, they sound like a proper band, and with its shoutalong rabble-rousing finale in the form of ‘Run and Hide,’ ‘Don’t be Scared’ is an accomplished debut.
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