Album: Reverend and the Makers

The State of Things (Wall Of Sound)

There's an Arctic Monkeys connection to Reverend and the Makers, but don't let that put you off. 'The State of Things' is a world away from Alex Turner's snotty skiffle (even though he plays guitar on one track). The Reverend is 25-year-old John McClure, a Northern ranting poet who conjures a convincing world of unpaid "leccy" bills, empty Stella cans, holidays in Faliraki, wife-beatings and "grannycides" over a sleazy electro-disco backing. His tales carry a ring of human truth unlike any Sheffield band since Pulp (to whom R&TM are worthy of comparison, if not quite the equal). It's like Soft Cell fronted by John Cooper Clarke.