Ah, The Rakes are back and how we've missed them. When every other band appears to specialise in jittery, post-punk rhythms, it's good to welcome back the masters of the genre.
Capture/Release was one of the best albums of 2005, and if this is anything to go by, the forthcoming Ten New Messages could be even better. Produced by Arctic Monkeys' producer Jim Abbiss, the key Rakes features are all there - a gloriously hummable tune powered along by the usual angular guitar lines, and Alan Donohue's wistful vocals recounting an 'us against the world' type story of two young lover dancing on a roof of a building while all manner of civil disobedience takes place below them.
"Two fingers up to those who won't miss us when we pass away" sneers Donahue towards the end - there's an awful lot of people who will miss The Rakes if they weren't around. Hopefully they won't be going anywhere for quite a while.
share: 
