Album Review: Young Rebel Set - Crocodile

Release date: 20th September 2013

Available to stream on Spotify - see Spotify player below

Thanks to David Kirby for this review........

Stockton born troubadours Young Rebel Set return with all their spit and sawdust vigour for a second helping of cut-throat jigs and...okay, enough of all that.

Young Rebel Set may have been destined to be a one-time fling; a chorus of sweaty, northern ‘lads’ arm-in-arm with one another, screaming debut album Curse Our Love’s most loved offering If I Was at the top of their lungs in crowded indie bars. But in the heady, anti-folk, post-Mumford & Son’s backlash that was the music scene in 2013, a repeat performance with second attempt Crocodile was never going to wash.

Don’t get me wrong, Curse Our Love was a stunning album rife with tunes that could pack a punch with the best of them; but what Crocodile offers is arguably even more compelling; growth. Slow burning opener Yesca and the Fear growls its way into eardrums and sets the tone for what is very much an introspective look at a band not struggling to come to terms with its identity anymore, but actively embracing it. There are the odd nods to previous efforts, lead single Lash of the Whip is destined to be a crowd pleaser, as is the similarly paced Another Time, Another Place. But Crocodile really snaps in it's darker moments; the twisted, Crowded House esque Reap the Whirlwind shows lead vocalist Matty Chipchase bearing more than just a swish pair of winkle pickers, and Show Your Feathers and Run is guaranteed to stick in your brain like a railroad spike.

Like any album, Crocodile is not without its flaws, a few tracks have more than a hint of filler about them and the metronome next to Chipchase’s guitar could do with being altered more regularly, but those are relatively minor quibbles. The main pleasure in listening to Crocodile is that what you’re really listening to is the sound of a band stepping out of a shadow that was more thrust upon them rather than stepped into. There’s no sawdust here, no double bass, no toothless cider swilling grins and most importantly, no god-damn harmonicas. Young Rebel Set have drafted an album that is streamlined yet with swagger, its a hard days graft followed by a pint, its knackered skinny jeans and a crisp Ben Sherman shirt. Its everything you’d expect and want from a North East band of like minded mates and it shines through in every song. To paraphrase Tim Minchin, its not perfect, but its theirs.

Young Rebel Set then may not be the complete article just yet, but what this offering does point to is a band very much heading in the right direction: their direction. A bridging effort to what one can only hope will be much greater things, and as far as bridging albums go, Crocodile is definitely structured soundly enough to be a cracking Transporter to album number 3.

And if you are a stalwart fan of the old Young Rebel Set then its maybe wise to not consider this a farewell to the band you know and love altogether, more just a case of: In a while, Crocodile...