The James Cleaver Quintet - That Was Then, This Is Now Review

rating: 4.5

Many will already be familiar with The James Cleaver Quintet without realizing, though it€™s an unfortunate thing to have down as prior. You know that musically painful Lucozade advert with the band playing Buck Rogers by Feeder as they roll and ride down a hill, amps and all, on a variety of boards and bikes. Where the little kid in you kind of thought, €˜that€™s pretty cool,€™ but then the grown up and holier than thou music fan in you thought €˜shit,€™ €˜knobs,€™ and €˜shitknobs.€™ That was these guys, some might say selling out before they had ought to sell. Well forget that. Tell that ever so eloquent grown up side of you, to be quiet and sit down, though keep listening, and bring back that ADHD enjoying inner child of yours for a listen too, of That Was Then, This Is Now. A surprisingly apt title given the context of the public€™s fist introduction to the band, and the stark contrast from then to now, and this; the band€™s debut album. And what a pleasant surprise that stark contrast turns out to be. Introducing then, the real The James Cleaver Quintet (initially a quartet though now fitting their name with five members). Album opener Golfing Pros, Bitches and Hoes bleeds the album in with a twisted merry-go-round tune, dissonant and distorted before erupting into breakneck slab of mathcore infused punk. Simultaneously catchy and off kilter; it sets the pace, changes it and then changes it back, for the album brilliantly before lead, music video sporting, tune off the album Chicken Shit (For the Soul) makes itself known with a circus rallying cry of €˜roll up, roll up!€™ and then goes about kicking its way into your skull in an equally insane and catchy way. This time a more straight ahead hardcore punk €˜n€™ roll anthem licked with riffs and choruses, all the while keeping little tastes of that underlying math/spazz/whatevercore backbone, particularly with its rhythms and that delightfully technologically warped vocal break before the outro. With a wail and a solid, even funky, mid tempo groove we meet Think or Swim, a definite highlight of the album. Showing the band to not just be all frenetic pace, this eases the throttle a little and lets the vocals and rhythms take a lead whilst still being energetic and chaotic, but focused and tight. Even if in its four minute run time it changes more than most bands do in an album, it€™s never too much for comfort, displaying a high level of musicianship in this fresh faced band. This freshness and deftness for off kilter changes being a distinct strength for this band, whilst some similar acts may come across weird for the sake of it or too intentionally jarring. The JCQ have a real knack for maintaining their own solid sound grounding and a sense of fun and youthful enjoyment doing it; like if Heavy Heavy Low Low took their Ritalin with a sense of melody and focussed punk rock energy. Structured chaos, showing you can go from here to there to heavy breakdown to big chorus to everywhere and back, whilst maintaining a sense of structure and focussed energy. The album is peppered with shining examples of this, as much as it€™s peppered with thrash riffs, breakdowns, big choruses, Animal from the Muppets drum work, tempo changes, atmospherics and some spazztastic guitar work, all the while running on exuberant punk fumes. Prime example the album title referencing The JCWho? Starting off all jazz swing with its double bass wiggle and brass pomp, bringing to mind a latter day Faith No More before what sounds like The Ghost of a Thousand and Down I Go having a knife fight breaks into the jazz club with the occasional pained burst of a grindcore squeal before it subsides into further swing love making. There€™s definite method to this madness and it€™s insanity you€™d want to take home with you. The lounge swing doesn€™t die away here and that€™s no bad thing, with follow up track Pink & Blues coming across somewhere between Every Time I Die and California period Mr Bungle. This an eclectic album and sound, but one that always knows who it is and doesn€™t get lost in its influences, managing to keep up a solid and distinct presence. Whether it€™s assaulting you on tracks like Trading Water, Mock the Weak and Snakes, bringing a mad hatter€™s party on Eyes for Ears and (American Psycho referencing) Don€™t Just Stare at It, EAT IT! Or even getting atmospheric and film score like with I and II(reprise) the band don€™t lose themselves or the album in the chaos. The album comes to a close with Lower Than a Bastard, something of an epic (not just for its eight minute passing run time) that manages to touch upon every aspect of the album that lead up to it. Starting off as hauntingly as the album itself but delving further into the atmospherics of the album instrumental interludes, intermittent stabs soon burst into full pelt frenetic hardcore before melody seeps into the vocals and the atmospherics return but backed by some of the bands energy and aggression, working the track like a grand arrangements of movements the pace soon returns and remains for a while working through a movement akin to a fully song choruses and all before another groove introduces a new set of riffs that lead to a section that comes across like a doom metal version of the Mr Mojo Risin€™ section of L.A. Woman by The Doors. Things get noisier and heavier from here before eventually the track collapses in on itself and slowly but surely breaks down in almost post rock atmosphere with a hint of Devil Sold His Soul as it fades the album out to a close. Call it mathpunk. Call it what you will, but call it good. This an excellent debut from a young band, that€™s sound is as vibrant and technicolour as the artwork that adorns it. If you have a mild interest in real, modern punk; hardcore, posthardcore, mathcore or otherwise, whatever give this album a go. An explosive and high energy mess of colourful punk rock, and it€™s their debut. Forgive them Lucozade. The James Cleaver Quintet's new album That Was Then, This Is Now is available now.