Remember
when Madchester was the thing?
How could
you forget the Stone Roses and their ilk kicking down the
provincially doors and stealing the thunder from the south?
Even if
you weren't around at the time, the media with their slavish
nostalgia pieces could make you feel like you had been.
Who could
really disagree that it reached its pinnacle with Oasis and that
they, as a band, would alter the musical landscape of the UK forever.
It's all
sort of carved in stone in the history of music now.
However
it was a scene and style that I never totally succumbed to, and
instead I dipped in and cherry picked what I wanted.
The
laddish swagger was a double edged sword I felt, and for me it only
worked if there was a degree of intelligence behind it, and that is
where Sonic Templars neatly come into it as here is the band that
can take all the swagger of that era, add the intelligence, and
apparently effortlessly polish it up for a new generation to enjoy.
That
they're not from Manchester has no real relevance as their debut ep
is drenched in the sound of the city, but while that sound is very
obviously the influential roots of their music its the far more
cosmopolitan feel of it that really pushes the envelope.
The song
writing, musicianship and the quality of the recording all manage to
equally raise this five track ep to the level of the release that
would be expected from a band decades into a career.
The
addition of strings to the track Sun Catcher is the perfect example
of how ambitious these guys are.
I suspect
that the whole arrangement was in their head, a whole hodgepodge of
sounds.
And it's
to their credit that they didn't record it until they knew that they
could capture what they wanted from it.
Many
bands would have probably compromised just so that they could get
their material out to the public.
That Sonic Templars didn't is what will separate them from their peers.
Thanks to
Unsigned Exposed who originally tipped me the wink to Sonic
Templars.
Good call
Jennifer.
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