Way, way back I gave Secondmonday‘s first EP, ‘If It Calls Out To You’ a relatively impressive 3/5 score, claiming the band were on the verge of something big, but hadn’t quite matched their talents with the record they were capable of making. I got flamed. ‘Rewrites Won’t Cover Up’ was a marked improvement in all departments and showcased the sound of a band beginning to find their own feet. A 4/5 score followed and while the band, I’m sure, were gracious, again I suffered a flaming at the hands of the fans. Third time round, the Winchester boys have written and recorded their best work so far. It’s the sound of a band finally coming into their own, shedding their youthful songwriting inexperience and forging ahead with a sound you can rightly pin on them. Secondmonday have finally grown up and become the band many always knew they had in them.
While the press release declares SM to be ‘experimental, ambient rock’, don’t be fooled by preconceptions this may be a spaced-out and drug-riddled Mars Volta-esque concept record. While Secondmonday often try to stretch our their musical landscapes, not falling into the traps many ’emo’ bands have fallen into before them, at the root of all of their music there’s a strong sense of chorus and melody. So while some of the songs do border on ‘epic’ status, they’re epic in an Armor For Sleep way, rather than an ‘up-our-own-arse’ way that many bands who attempt to be complicated or different manage to do.
What marks Secondmonday out from the crowd – as well as their relative youth – is that they’re not afraid to try and be different. Their earliest recordings smacked of the Finch-isms that many bands in 2002/3 copied, so it’s pleasing to see that over the course of their three albums, these have all but disappeared. That doesn’t mean the band have ditched their ear for a melody – ‘Mono Injection’ has a huge chorus, while ‘Create, Destroy, Rebuild’ and ‘Cue Speech’ are great little songs. James Hopkinson’s vocals are as good as any in the genre in the UK, while the general level of musicianship is superb.
At the end of the day this is an album by a UK band on top of their game. It stretches the boundaries, has a tug at the heart strings and there’s still enough to make you sing along. They’re not quite the best band in the country, but they’re making rapid progress and don’t count them out making big, big waves on an international level if the right people hear them.