Back in bloom .............. Sulk

Lets start off as we mean to go on, I proclaim Sulk to be the best British British band to come out of Great Britian in the past 20 years.  There I've said it and I can't go back now, and why would I? I mean every word I say and have been preaching about this band for a while now and now with the release of their debut album "Graceless" my words have paid off. Graceless is flowing with soundscapes from the past 40 years, from the early 90s baggy and britpop movements to the bands that influenced them from the 60s and 70s. Yes I can hear tinges of the charlatans and the Roses through to bands like Northside, Ride and Slowdive but also britpop bands like The Space Monkeys, Sussed and Mantaray. But it doesn't stop there, you can reach back to the 60s within the likes of Sgt. Peppers era of the Beatles, to The Zombies, The Byrds and The Stones.  Even the likes of the psych bands like The Thirteen Floor Elevators, Love and Strawberry Alarm Clock.

Unlike many many other bands over that last few years who come off sounding like the bands they are influenced by, Sulk pull off sounding like a band who have lived through four very British music scenes and sound as fresh as if they had created them themselves. Weather Psych, Shoegaze, Baggy or Britpop these boys don't sound like one band but a whole four decades worth of music that have influenced every kid that sits in their bedroom with their 2nd hand squire electric dreaming of being in a band.

Their debut album "Graceless" is the album I would of dreamt of making back in the day when I was gigging. For me it represents everything that made me want to pick up a guitar and join a band. It's even made me dust off the old Gibson and crank up the chorus and reverb just like I did when I first bought it. The album is perfect from start to finish and gives me the same feeling I had when I first listened to The Stone Roses debut. Swirling chorus filled guitars, hazy vocals and double beats that any air drummer would be proud to swing their arms to. Every song could be a single and I can't just listens to one track without having listening to the whole album as I don't want to miss out on all the tracks, which to me is a sign of a classic album. Tracks like "Flowers" with its blissful chorus hook and energetic guitar riff swirling in the background inbetween its modest baggy beat, to the track "Wishes" with its soft vocal harmonies and a back beat that any Madchester band would kill for.

So there you have it, the wait is over.

The Roses may have sung about it but Sulk are the real resurrection.

The resurrection of the uk music scene.............