The Maccabees feat. Roots Manuva - Empty Vessels

The idea of such a collaboration is enough to wet the appetite itself. The leading light of British rap music and one of the greatest contemporary indie rock groups in the country. To be honest they’d have had to do something unbelievably wrong for the results to be not worth listening to and with that in mind it should come as no surprise to hear that ‘Empty Vessels’ is rather good.

The only problem with this single lies in that it’s prompting a re-release of last year’s album ‘Wall of Arms’. This is fine for the people who did not pick the record up on its initial release, but for those that picked it up and supported the band when it first came out they are now once again, missing out on a handful of new and rare tracks. This happened before with The Maccabees when ‘Colour It In’ was reissued in the wake of ‘Toothpaste Kisses’’ advert appearance.

Still, rant over. If you’re a fan of either of these acts you could do with this track. A reworking of previous single ‘No Kind Words’, the already sparse beginning to the song is pulled even tighter with Roots Manuva’s slick soulful voice taking charge over the top. More so than the original this does an excellent job of initiating tense a build up before a dramatic race to the finish. Only now there’s an extra passenger. Roots and Orlando Weeks’ voices complement each other surprisingly well, despite being as disparate as possible. The juxtaposition of Roots’ confident strength and the fragility of The Maccabees’ backing vocals is a stunning combination. ‘Empty Vessels’ is a true collaboration that has bought out something special in both acts.