Band: THUMPERS
Release: Galore (Album)
Release Date: 11/02/2014 (USA), 19/05/2014 (UK)
!!!!ATTENTION!!!! PREMATURE ALBUM REVIEW ALERT!!!!
Rejoice! THUMPERS are streaming their euphoric debut record, which they have christened ‘Galore’, on the Inter-World-Wide-Net-Web RIGHT AT THIS JOYOUS SECOND (and many seconds thereafter), especially for the discerning hearts and souls of their faithful disciples and the yet-to-be-converted alike! Hallelujah!
Yeah, I know, this is standard practise these days (Try Before You Buy… PLEASE BUY!), but it’s unfathomable to my, admittedly, minuscule brain in this particular instance; THUMPERS’ record isn’t released in the UK until the 19th May… which is bloody ages away. So, dear reader, you will study my ‘critique’ (pretentious word for ‘Review’), bathe in the glory of ‘Galore’, absolutely and wholeheartedly adore it then have to wait three heart-breaking, winter months to purrrrchase it on CD or vinyl from your local record shop (if such a thing still exists) or daaaanload it from iTunes (the more likely option).
However, do not despair delightful disciples! The album is released in the US of A on the 11th February! So if you, like me, really flippin’ love it and happen to be giddily wealthy, like me (obviously), you can hop on a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 or perhaps even charter a private jet, like me or Kanye, and purrrrchase it STATESIDE. Fuckin’ A and rad and SPRING BREAK!
Let us face reality. The average THUMPERS fan will likely be an English, young, 15-25 year old indie boy/girl with their finger on the beating pulse of London’s music scene; perhaps a brassic student at Goldsmiths, maybe pulling pints at The Old Blue Last to scrape together enough cash to buy some MDMA for consumption in Alibi on a Thursday night or maybe making faux-meaningful forays into the world of music bollocks… sorry, I mean PR. I am, of course, generalising… but the point I am taking so bloody long to make is thus; By the time the album drops in the UK everybody with an ounce of intrigue regarding THUMPERS will have downloaded it illegally for free. Won’t they? Surely, come May, THUMPERS will end up selling about twelve copies; 2 to the girlfriends, 2-4 to mums and/or dads, a couple to weird auntie Enid Blyton and maybe a handful to super, mental, obsessive, freaky fans who really need a physical copy so that they can laminate it and add it to their THUMPERS wall shrine.
And it would be a crying shame if these events came to pass; because ‘Galore’ is a dazzler.
THUMPERS are expert architects, opening ‘Galore’ with the masterful sonic landscape which is ‘Marvel’. A syncopated, expressive drum beat is joined by grand piano chords, fuzzy synth bass and layered, euphoric vocal melodies. It is (excuse the pun which will, I’m sure, be repeated in many reviews of this record… but note, I used the pun first) marvellous. Oooooh, seriously, it’s strikingly celebratory with it’s piano flourishes and a coda which converts from the major chord vibe of the song preceding it, into a minor chord wistfulness that is complemented by brass… and I flippin’ lurrrrve me a bit o’ brass.
Elsewhere, ‘Unkinder (A Tougher Love)’ was the first song I heard by THUMPERS in early 2013 with it’s joyous chorus and emotive lyrics and still sounds beautiful at track #4 on ‘Galore’. I’m not going to blow my own, proverbial, trumpet (no matter how much I lurrrrve brass) and I’m certainly not one of those bores who spouts garbage like “I was the first to spot those guys; I told ya they’d be big!”… But I just knew after hearing that song that THUMPERS could be really special; and in places ‘Galore’ is really special.
My favourite moment among the various highlights (the title track ‘Galore’ being one of those, as is the balloon-being-blown-up sample in ‘Sound of Screams’) is the guitar solo in ‘Dancing’s Done’. It is reminiscent of the guitars on Michael Jackson’s classic ‘Black Or White’ and let’s face the music… we miss that weird, pointy-nosed, moon-walking, man-child’s music like crazy… so, GO THUMPERS!
In conclusion, my message for y’all crazy kids is mighty simple… of course listen and lurrrrve ‘Galore’ whilst it’s streaming. But don’t go and thieve it off some dodgy, virus-laden website in February. Wait until it comes out in the UK in May then go down the town, get a tenner out of the cash machine, pop into the shops and BLOODY BUY IT. If all you wonderful peeps do this then THUMPERS may sell enough copies to be given the opportunity to write and record a second record which would be a very exciting prospect indeed.
9/10
Reviewer: Joel Alexander
