The Maccabees find a sound of their own

Up to now the Maccabees have tended to be dismissed as juvenile post-punk copycats. But the Londoners’ third album shows a new ambition.

With the (British) indie rock scene now more or less on its last legs, rockers have been trying to make an impression by broadening their sound. The Horrors recently showed that “pop” doesn’t have to be a swearword in indie circles, and the Maccabees, too, are benefiting from a similar opening up. The nervous post-punk guitars and impetuous drumrolls of their first two albums have given way on Given to the Wild to sumptuous art-pop and slightly psychedelic post-rock. Finally the group has found a sound of their own, shaking off all too flashy influences like Futureheads and Arcade Fire.

Not just in terms of sound, but also of lyrics, the Maccabees boys have been looking for more depth. They are not far off thirty now, so it is time to take stock for the first time. “We’re all getting older, so we take a lover waiting in the corner, and before you know it we’re pushing up the daisies,” as they put it in “Pelican”.
“The potential was there from the start,” says guitarist Felix White, with singer Orlando Weeks looking on and agreeing. “But we were still far too naive. On the other hand, it was good that we hadn’t said everything on our debut yet.”
Are those new insights the result of a different way of working?
Felix White: Maybe. In the lead-up to the new album we avoided each other and got on with it, working separately on different bits, and put them together later.
Orlando Weeks: In the past it was often too intense, almost claustrophobic. We tried to work in a more laidback way, taking time along the way to look up friends, watch the occasional nature documentary, and so on. That paid off.

Read the full article in AGENDA, page 15.

The Maccabees
9/2 • 20.00, €13/16/19
Botanique Koningsstraat 236 rue Royale, Sint-Joost-ten-Node/Saint-Josse-ten-Noode,
02-218.37.32, info@botanique.be, www.botanique.be