⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ – 4.5 Stars
Several Isle of Wight Festivals ago now, My wife and I had a spare slot in our hectic festival schedule, and The Lilacs had already been recommend by friends whose musical opinions I trust. This combination of events took us towards their first set of the weekend. And swiftly onto their second set of the weekend.
Our love and adoration (Or obsession) with the bands music has led us to many more shows of theirs, and lets not forget car journey karaoke sessions. A chance for us Southerners to try our hands at Ollie Anglesea’s gravelly vernacular vocals.
Once again, we’re staring down the barrel of a very biased review. However, I think The Lilacs will deserve any plaudits they receive, whether that’s from inside or outside of their fanbase. Cast my emotional attachment to one side, and what we have here is a perfect example of a debut album. They’ve retained the old wit and youthful energy, whilst also unlocking a new side to their songwriting abilities. That alone deserves commending.
A debut album can mean a lot of things. It’s often the case that the band has already grown to the point they should have an album on the shelves. They often become scrapbooks and compilations of road-tested songs, and that works in a lot of cases.
The Lilacs haven’t done this with theirs. Barring a few major inclusions, the album is completely new and written for the purpose of being on the album. Thus, unlocking a new level songwriting and maturity.
The band consists of Ollie Anglesea (Vocals and guitar), Sam Birchall (Guitar), Matt Johnson (Bass) and Dave Gomersall (Drums).
Watch our interview with Ollie Anglesea below.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/bpVhPNcpWYo?si=aa4XI19XGKwV1_Zx
The album opens with ‘Miss Behavin’‘, immediately providing a surprising piano led-melody. This features a classic tale of infatuation, wrapped in a high-energy festival banger. It’s very 2010’s pop rock, reminding me of some favourites of my youth like The Wombats and The Vaccines.
‘Girl Behind The Bar‘ arrives in festival tent glory. It’s hook-laden and super addictive. Anglesea’s vocals take a conversational tone here, as he depicts pub culture and youthful infatuations.
Next up, listeners are treated to a raw voice note from Anglesea showing the demo of ‘Put The World To Rights‘ before the track rips into life. For me, the lyrical content of the song is obviously drawing on the maturity I’ve previously mentioned, discussing growing apart from someone but also tackling hardships. However, under the cover Sam Birchall is providing a catchy guitar lead melody that propels the song forwards.
A re-recorded version of ‘Grace‘, one of the bands biggest singles to date, works its way nicely as the emotional anchor on the album. It’s served a long term purpose as a tribute to Birchall’s health battles. It not only holds emotional weight for the band, but for the fanbase too. This recording hasn’t changed a whole amount, but definitely offers an elevation in overall sharpness and crispness.
Title track ‘Keeping Up With The Joneses‘ has a very smooth, clean ballad feel to it. Anglesea’s vocals get the opportunity to breathe over soothing guitar chords, toned down drums and a gentle bass. When the chorus hits, I can picture a room full of people chanting “It’s lonely, lonely. Keeping up with the Joneses” back to the band. Towards the end of the single, there’s a subtle high pitched guitar solo that builds with growing intensity, before the band roar into one final chorus.
“There’s way too many people in the world. Trying to figure out where they belong, so they can swim” is the opening isolated vocals on ‘If The Jacket Fits (Then Its Yours To Keep)‘. It’s a classic upbeat, melodic song from The Lilacs. It’s catchy and full of hooks, but most importantly the lyrical content shows a deep meaning. All wrapped into a 2.5 minute catchy indie anthem.
It’s no secret that The Courteeners and Stereophonics are some of the biggest influences on the Wigan band, and that rings particularly true in ‘What’s The Worst That Can Happen‘. It’s got that rolling, carefree feel to it. Wrapped in an infectious, driving groove you can tell it’s designed to be sung at festival stages and out of car windows.
Similarly to ‘Grace‘, It felt like a right of passage to include ‘Vicarage Road‘ on the album. I recently interviewed Ollie Anglesea as part of the album campaign, and he revealed that he much prefers this new recording of their classic single. They wrote the song when they were just 3 months into being a band, and similar Anglesea had only been singing for the same period.
They’ve not given the song a complete new verse or chorus, but the subtle differences act as a perfectly polished facelift. The guitars sound cleaner, and the riffs stand out more, and Anglesea clearly sounds more developed as a singer. For long time fans of theirs, this will be a perfect reimagining.
For all talks of nostalgia, The Lilacs provide an emotional ballad in the penultimate track. ‘Too Much Of A Good Thing‘ shows the depth and variation that Anglesea has developed in his voice. He sings soulfully over a piano melody, reaching notes I’ve not heard him reach before. All this whilst seemingly writing a reflective letter to himself or somebody else.
The albums not quite finished however, as probably my favourite of the unheard songs roars into life. ‘Asking For A Friend‘ sounds very similar to some of their back catalogue. To me, ‘Calling It A Night‘ springs to mind. The drums are fast and the guitars are jagged but measured. Written to a familiar recipe to many of the tracks that have come before it, this wraps the album up nicely.
I know it’s not been completely unbiased, but when writing a review of a band that means so much to you, there’s always going to be an element of this.
I suspect I’ll be playing this album a lot over the coming years, whether that’s on my record player whilst sat at home, through AirPods at my desk, or countless car journeys across the country to another gig. I feel like my relationship with their songwriting has come a long way since that early Isle of Wight appearance.
This debut isn’t a compilation album or a lap honour for the tracks their fans are already belting back at them.
This is 4 lads from Wigan who have seen what they have the potential to become, and are living up to it. The album shows where they are in life, and perfectly depicts the middle ground between youthful exuberance and aging anxieties.
If this happens to be your first listen, flick through their back catalogue and you’ll soon learn why so many people are excited for this release.
Written by Brad Halcrow for The Songbird HQ