Dreams, Schemes and Young Teams, shows you the versatility of The Shambolics, we’ve got heavy rock, indie pop, spoken word, folk…. It’s all here. And I am standing up in the cheap seats shouting encore!
Hailing from Fife, Scotland and formed in 2018 Shambolics have been building a reputation as a must see band. Cited by Alan Mcgee to be ‘ already one of the great Scottish bands’ he went on to sign Shambolics in 2019 to his Creation23 record label they went on to release their debut single ‘Chasing A Disaster’ which went in at No 2 on the UK Official Vinyl Charts.
Two more singles were released and the band played their headline gig on 14th March 2020 at a sold out St Lukes, Glasgow just 3 days prior to the country going into lockdown. Once restrictions were lifted the band decided to relocate themselves and their studio to Glasgow moving in early 2021. There they found a kindred spirit in producer Chris Marshall who helped them realise what the influence of living in a big city meant to them as a band. The result was more honest, gritty songwriting and sound whilst keeping the melodies and upbeat vibe they had become so well known for.
Having recently signed to Scruff Of The Neck Records and touring alongside Scottish legends The View, SHAMBOLICS today unleash their debut album; Dreams, Schemes and Young Teams.
Our Del spent some considerable time lending the new offering his learned musical ear and he now gives his thoughts below;
Well, here it is, Shambolics new album and it rocks!!!
- Influencer
What an opener! It’s got dips and peaks, where it starts off with the rolling thunder of drums and wall of sound of guitars it still settles back for an idle rumble for the verse, before it gets mad busy in the chorus. You can tell there’s an influence of grunge here you can almost smell the sweat from the session of recording it. One thing I like about this album is the vocal delivery as a whole, on this track it’s hard enough having to sing at this speed at the same rhythm constantly – how do you breathe??? The 1:36 part for the middle 8 is brilliant – as is the ah ah ah outro to dead stop! It had me applauding this is the stuff that I love from a DJs point of view as it’s a good show opener or closer! You can use that to pack a punch for sure.
2. Never Be Mine
DUCK!!!
That intro with the rapid shotgun of a snare run was loud and you don’t expect it especially with where it came from with “Losing Your Mind”!
I love this again, the chorus says that the writer doesn’t want to waste the object of his affection’s time because he knows he doesn’t have a chance. The catchy melody in the intro sealed it for me.
The energy is infectious! Also is that a mellotron? If you know.. you know.
- Attention
Ahh a song about attention seeking.. everyone wants their time in the spotlight.
This track hits the ground running with drums, synths and bass, the drums bring out the toms and kick playing four on the floor and switching up in the pre chorus to the Motown snare hits on each note in the bar. With all the switching up, this song shows that this band is very capable of different styles. The moment I fell in love with this song is at the moment where everything builds up at 2:18, this is anthemic status. Bring on jumping up and down in a muddy field in on a hot summer’s day.
- Coming For You
The way this is structured tells me that Shambolics are bloody good at what they do. Probably my favourite song on the album, and we are only on track 4. It’s full of paranoia in the lyrics! There are also sound effects hidden within the mix – yes I noticed the police sirens in there.
- Daily Dosage
The tempo is taken down slightly and what I like about this is the fact that the bass and kick are falling in together, this is probably my favourite track on the album so far. Epic production values here! I could almost here a drum n bass remix on just the chorus alone – nice touch of reverb on the vocals by the way.
I want to note here the tremelo on the guitar as well in the intro it’s just a little touch, but it’s enough to get noticed!
I think this song is my favourite production and arrangement wise so far. It switches from laidback to a mid tempo indie rock so easily – listen out for the background vocals sitting right at the back at 1:58 it’s like intrusive thoughts…
- Dreams, Schemes And Young Teams
This is a call to action it’s challenging you to step up, asking you to chase your dreams, are you ready to take on the world? With a song it’s a rallying cry and it could be a song that the band are using to motivate themselves as well… it follows the formula of the album so far the energy of big rock has not settled down yet!
- If You Want It
This is the kind of track you’d hear and even if you’re not someone that likes to hang out in the moshpit this will get you there. The chorus repeats and you can hear the ooohs – that’s going to be one for the live gigs. I like the tape stop like effect at 2:09, and then the dead stop right at the end… brilliant!
- Fooling You
Clean guitars! The riffing is brilliant, and the drum fill is full of snare flanges and hi hat chokes. The vocals are full of amusement, suiting the lyrical matter of almost saying “I told you so.” Strong song!
- Universal Credit
Well this is reality for a lot of people, and in years to come if and when we come out of the period of austerity we are in now this could be used to chronicle what’s going on, in the same way that UB40 used “Signing Off” their first album as social commentary back in the early 80s.
Basically this is two sides of the coin, Universal Credit advisor being condescending to our hero here, about his band, and the hero being ever the optimistic, and telling him where to go with his money, it’s been something you hear all the time through the ages as an artist in any field – go find a real job, here’s something you might like, this is not going to get you anywhere….
- Everything You Should Have Done
This has a driving rhythm, laid down rapid fire with the guitar playing quarter notes, it’s energetic! It’s also about escaping, and it’s one of those songs with lyrics that matches words to action it runs ahead, and it has so much energy! Proper festival stuff here. I love the idea of layered vocals one octave below the lead.
What a tune.
- Losing Your Mind
Reverb laden intro on guitars and vocals… again another contender for my favourite track on the album, and the chorus with the harmonised ahhhh in the background – no. Definitely my favourite I think, and that big wall of sound is nailing it for me, I reckon that if they put a gospel choir in this live it would be absolutely epic. The way it began is the way it closes and to be honest… it’s emotional!
- Filth And Scum
Oh. Okay. An acoustic number to close an epic album. This sounds so out of place on an album full of hard hitting rock tr-
Hold on.
*Goes back*
Yeah.
That’s a string section.
This is a folk song.
This is the kind of song that’s played on an empty stage as everyone is leaving… it’s got a lullaby quality to it, and just proves there is no problem with switching gears halfway through, because if you are paying attention we are at track 6 of 14 now. If this was vinyl this would be the closer on side A.
I love the guitar playing on this, and the key that this is in suits it well, it’s A Major and while G is seen as a happy key this is poignant and calls to mind memories. Great choice to write in!
2:01 is where the drums and bass come in and the strings really lift. I love the outro as well, where there’s a zoooop sound instead of a fade out.
Genius.
Dreams, Schemes and Young Teams, shows you the versatility of The Shambolics, we’ve got heavy rock, indie pop, spoken word, folk…. It’s all here. And I am standing up in the cheap seats shouting encore!
Review by Del Osei-Owusu
T H E S O N G B I R D 