The festival bands of old who, upon hitting the scene, were probably infants (Bombay Bicycle Club, The Maccabees etc) appear to have kicked off the big boy pants, jumped through puberty and matured faster than you can say “Man this song sounds good in this muddy field!” BBC threw away their spritely sing along tunes and showed a much darker side on A Different Kind of Fix and, although The Maccabees aren’t showing a dark side per se, the side they are showing is a lot more grown up than their previous efforts.
2007’s Colour It In was very much an album about playful abandon; enjoying youth and everything that came with it, including those toothpaste kisses. Given To The Wild is very much as the title suggests; the story of those youthful boys being thrown into the big bad world and realising that, as Orlando gently sighs in ‘Forever I’ve Known’, “nothing stays forever”.
And that’s just about the mature themes in the album. I haven’t even talked about how gorgeous the production is yet. Sure, the festival-baiting tracks are gone but they’ve been replaced by beautiful flowing tracks with sweeping guitars that are then suddenly replaced by tightly stabbing guitars and pounding drums.
This seems like a natural progression for The Maccabees. There are flavours that were present in Colour It In and Wall of Arms are neatly wrapped up in this much more mature package. It truly is a wonderful album. Fantastic production mixed with the raw emotion of the lyrics, it really is nothing like their previous albums. And all the more for it!
4/5
Recommended download: 'Forever I've Known'
