RAIKES – ALBUM REVIEW

Raikes – The Door 

Raikes - The Door

Release Date: Out Now

Liskeard quartet Raikes have taken their time to craft their new album, ‘The Door’, and so it behoves you to take your time to listen to it – trust me, it is worth your time. The album opens with ‘Champion’, which has a gentle, dawn break of a guitar intro and the frail vocal creeping in singing “I could have been a contender for your crown” and it is beautiful. This couldn’t sound more Cornish, vast and open if it tried and by the crescendo, you’ll be falling in love with this band if you have any semblance of a heart. ‘Mess’ comes next with a more raucous indie-rock riff crashing through the soft, dewy air left by the opening track and the energy is palpable – gloriously palpable.

Raikes like one-word titles, every track on this album is a single word, and the third one up is ‘Awake’ which settles back in-to a gentle groove with soft vocals doing their best Elbow meets Contact Mo meets Arcade Fire. ‘Talk’ has gloriously layered guitars and a sombre tone that brings about an image of a couple getting to the end of the bottle, the end of their tethers and the end of the road – we’ve all been there but never had such an epic soundtrack. On ‘Cold’, Raikes adopt a Beatles-meets-Radiohead vibe with sweet, slow melodies and the kind of vocals that lift your heart up and slow your breathing down at the end of a hard day but then the thundering hooves of drums join in and a new, desperate energy. This is a classic Raikes trademark – switching the energy and emotion when you least expect it.

Raikes

‘Fault’ has that epic, sweeping energy again that you would have previously heard from the likes of Embrace but the desperate has a more grunge-meets-shoegaze energy. If ‘Home’ doesn’t make you want to jump on the next bus/train/plane back to your parents then your heart strings are tangled but the rippling acoustic notes are as clear as day and just utterly beautiful – made more so when the cello joins in like a reassuring arm around the shoulder and a cuppa placed in your hand. ‘Matador’ finds frontman Matt Twornicki in full-on Jeff Buckley mode as searing guitars and crashing drums sound like waves colliding with Cornish cliffs.

As we enter the home straight, ‘Well’ slinks in to view like Elvis Costello and latter-day Arctic Monkeys having a late-night jam session in a smoke-filled bar after closing time. The ten-track, ten-word album closes out with ‘Bullet’, a song with angel-light tones and a real sense of endings, missed opportunities and a hint or regret. You expect an almighty crescendo, but the end of this album is almost religious in its restraint and long fade out. Raikes are not in this for a quick fix or a fast buck but if you like your pleasure intense, lengthy and intricately woven together then try this one on for size. I suspect it will fit like a glove.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/raikesuk/