The Rakes - Capture/Release

It seems that London and it’s affiliated ‘we’re almost from London, guv’ comrades are all desperately striving to ensure their success by being an honest depiction of ‘everyday’ life and ‘connecting’ with the people. It rarely works though does it? Well, unless you’re The Rakes delivering short slices of routine life with the kind of ‘no messing’ punk ethos that so many attempt to recreate but fail.

Opener ‘Strasbourg’ still sounds as fresh as when first heard, irregular breaks and thumping turns blaze under a driven vocal that brings the album to life before ‘Retreat’ optimises the day to day mirth and mundanity that The Rakes conjure up with the kind of ease and honesty that The Others would be lucky to even dream of.

‘Open Book’ could be ‘Love Cats’ being covered by Nick Cave if he was from Clapham; springing instrumentals are played out under a melancholy vocal and cooing backings whilst ‘Binary Love’ is as understated as The Rakes get, drifting through a mellow line of loves tales and unknown emotions, packed full of engulfing minimalism.

Though it’s not all a captivating look at society, at times lacking some of the fizz which they have live; ‘We Are All Animals’ and ‘Violent’ pass by without catching the attention.

‘Work, Work, Work (Pub, Club, Sleep)’ softly drifts into a typical night out in any town around the country after a week’s work - it might not be the sort of place you’d want to go but it’s honesty can be related to by the masses. This is where The Rakes excel: one of the majority, loved by a minority - and that, above the downhearted reflections upon society that their tracks portray, is the real shame.