Album Review Spring King - Tell Me If You Like To

Spring King have come a long way from bathroom studios, shower gel wrestling for space with hi-hats. In the last twelve months, they’ve experienced a Hollywood big break - a Leicester City-style story of hard-working musicians getting the recognition they deserve, minus Jamie Vardy and the WKD. Debut album ‘Tell Me If You Like To’ possesses the same breakneck speed spirit of their first steps. But it’s also a full-bodied beast, the sound of a band racing to the finish line to accept their prize.

From ‘City’’s 100mph charge onwards, the four-piece force sludgy guitar lines and chunky drums into every possible space. ‘Rectifier’ is their call-to-arms, a spirited trip out of the doldrums (drummer/vocalist Tarek Musa sings “I’ll give you my struggles, then I’ll get out of sight”) into a forbidden no man’s land. “I’m not the same person you met while you were around,” he barks, a coming-of-age tale compressed into a mammoth indie triumph. ‘Demons’ has a similarly bittersweet edge - every thrash is peppered with paranoia. And even if ‘The Summer’ comes off like a jaunty festival-number-in-waiting (which it is), it packs a multi-dimensional story.

That’s the best part of Spring King - their songs can be chanted in mad unison, or they can be embraced on a one-to-one level. Complex tales that mirror as all-embracing anthems aren’t easy to teach, but these guys are masters of the game.

‘Tell Me If You Like To’ ticks every box required. It’s a rabid, gutsy blueprint for Spring King’s bright future. And even though the last year’s been a whirlwind, you get the sense these four are only just approaching the actual storm.