Mutineers have risen from the ashes of a number of Manchester bands. Amongst their ranks they can boast to have ex-members of The Cardinals, Haven and Johnny Marr’s short lived group The Healers. If their musical pedigree wasn’t quite enough they have also gained the patronage of Bernard Sumner and supported his new band Bad Lieutenant.
As a result, this is a band steeped in tradition. The overall sound immediately evokes New Order’s more dreamy moments but closer inspection reveals more depth. Michael Reed supplies some glorious liquid guitar lines that are found sprinkled all over the record. One Last Chance begins with a crunchy metronomic guitar riff which becomes glittered with some delicate picking in the build up to the chorus. When the chorus arrives it is greeted with a wave of guitar lines that dip in and out of our focus. It’s the kind of considered craftsmanship that Johnny Marr built his career on.
While investigating these guitar parts will be an absolutely joy for Rickenbacker fanatics, the unfortunate fact is that many people wont be able to get passed the voice of Nicholas James Mallins. To use yet another point of reference from Manchester, Mallins sings with the same fragile vibrato as Pete Shelley. While that worked an absolute charm with the throwaway defiance of The Buzzcocks, against the lush and considered back drops Mutineers create, it sticks out like a particularly sore thumb.
Then again, it could be argued that the predominantly bleak lyrics Mutineers deal with (“straight from the heart of a suicide girl”) benefit from being bleated out rather than sung with forced conviction: it’s certainly refreshing hearing this kind of music being sung by someone who isn’t trying to impersonate Ian Curtis or Brandon Flowers. You Used To Be Okay’s pleading chorus which evokes the soaring moments of The Cure certainly gains authenticity in its delicate delivery, but its unlikely to become an indie dance-floor filler.
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Because of this it’s hard to pinpoint exactly where Mutineers belong. There’s a bit too much going on to reach out-right commercial success in the current climate but that does seem to be exactly what their perfectly structured and arranged songs are aiming for. It’s a slightly uncomfortable combination.
As the album progresses, the constant mood and debt to their heritage means that instead of immersing yourself in Mutineers’ music you find yourself trying to identify the influences: Stick Together will have me reinvestigating Echo and The Bunnymen’s back catalogue until I discover exactly which song the guitar riff is lifted from.
If you’ve been intrigued by any of the other bands mentioned I’d more than recommend investigating Mutineers: if nothing else their debut is a great way to fall in love again with some great bands you may have ignored recently. However as a record in its own right, there’s not enough individuality for their debut to transcend its obvious influences.
Mutineers on Myspace
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