The State of Things

Jon McClure's values

Leader of British indie band Reverend And The Makers Jon McClure is definitely an outstanding personality. He may be obscure for a wide audience but still he plays a pretty influential role in life of British underground indie scene. McClure is fairly independent and self-sufficient musician; he is a political activist and a free poet who always has his own opinion. McClure usually associates with such popular band as Arctic Monkeys members of which used to take part in his musical projects before they launched their own band. It may seem to be too resounding but he was probably the biggest influence that affected this band's style. Anyhow, it becomes obvious where Arctic Monkeys' roots lie after listening to Reverend And The Makers' debut album The State Of Things. So, if he is so smart why is he so poor? By all appearances McClure's inner values cannot be measured by money alone. McClure was hounded by major record labels, reportedly offering him sums of up to 150,000 pounds to make an album like Arctic Monkeys but he resisted the temptation even despite that fact he was on the dole at this time. Perhaps the reasons of his behavior lie in his unwillingness to be a clone, he simply didn’t want to be a mate of Arctic Monkeys for the public. He knew his potential and this is probably why he decided to relocate in Amsterdam where he prepared material for his debut album The State Of Things.

Cheerful mood and parting

Before we start trying to get at the roots of The State Of Things it is worth saying at once, Reverend And The Makers are not Arctic Monkeys, perhaps these bands have some connections but they don't try to copy each other. However, some common traits still present. Stylistically, The State Of Things is something like a mixture of Gorillaz, Arctic Monkeys, The Enemy and Kate Nash, add some disco and vintage electronica and you'll have an approximate picture. A track called The Machine may serve as a good example, all the mentioned elements managed to get on in a more or less equal proportion here, you can even find that peculiar steel robot-like voice somewhere in the middle of the composition. Generally all the songs sound straightforwardly and pretty fast, beat is rather dance, bass can't be called punk too so the record's overall sounding disposes to cheerful mood and parting. The album's title song The State Of Things sounds really catchy in this sense. However, sometimes Reverend And The Makers give out songs with a slight flavor of nostalgic sadness. It is hard to tell how they manage to produce such an effect, maybe at the expense of vocals and maybe because of arrangements. Listen to Open Your Widow, there is something special about this song yet nevertheless there are not so many tracks with the similar atmosphere on the album.

Professional confidence

The album's vocal potential is worthy of special mentioning. In comparison with not really even and sometimes too hoarse voices of many indie rockers McClure's baritone sounds very confident, comfortable and sometimes even beautiful. Besides, McClure is not the only person who sings lead parties in the band, Laura Manuel who appears form time to time on different songs brings in really pleasant diversity in the album. Check out Bandits and He Said He Loved Me for instance. All this places Reverend And The Makers in a good light, the band sounds experienced, fairly professional and fresh even despite their generic indie material. The band's peculiarity lies in their ability to express the things everyone and his brother play today with necessary maturity many other bands lack. Overall Reverend And The Makers is a band worthy of attention of any indie rock admirer, their songs stand pretty close to the level of this genre's best representatives appeared in the recent years. The State Of Things is a typically British but at the same time sufficiently original album. Of course, you shouldn’t expect that it will strike you with eccentricity but as a whole thing this record can offer you a whole mass of pleasant moments.