- Mon, 2011-02-14 13:03
Manchester’s Dutch Uncles may just be the best kept secret in the world of contemporary British indie. They have been named as favourites by a whole raft of the scene’s freshest stars, not least current high-flyers Everything Everything, tipped for big things by a wide range of grassroots gurus for two years running, and have even released a full album (though for some reason only in Germany), and yet somehow still find themselves under the radar.
But that is soon to change. Finally, after what seems like an implausibly long wait, the band are getting ready to release their debut UK album. Due to arrive in the spring, it is preceded at the end of February by the single Face In, originally released way back in 2008, but ready now for a reprise.
The perfect introduction to the band’s idiosyncratic style, Face In fuses a restless energy reminiscent of early Foals with the warm indie-pop sound of Two Door Cinema Club. The rhythm section provide a relentlessly forceful foundation upon which the two guitars spar, trading muted and subtly off-kilter melodies with bolshy, echoing chord-stabs. The element that grabs one most forcefully, however, is Duncan Wallis’ curiously charismatic singing voice, which is a soft, high tenor that drifts elegantly between the band’s shards of sound.
Face In is intelligent and original indie indie-pop, and is sure to win Dutch Uncles the wider audience that they deserve.
