Single Review
Broken Wires – ‘The Merchant’ & ‘Coffee Rock’ from Author of Your World
Sounds Like Mature Spirit
Broken Wires are Frankie (lead guitar), Henry (vocals, rhythm), George (drums) and Emma (bass). Having performed across England, Wales, Germany and the US, the Worcestershire band will be releasing their debut album Author of Your World on 6th October.
On their YouTube channel, they describe themselves as a ‘classic’ rock band. According to my online dictionary, ‘classic’ means ‘very typical of its kind’, but this doesn’t seem quite right as a description of Broken Wires. For a start, Henry could pass as a member of Hanson (the American pop rock band, not the Scottish skiffle band made up of retired football pundits). However, his voice is more akin to the gravelly baritone of Ben Ottewell from Gomez. I can only assume this is a deliberate singing affect, though given how young the band are, I wouldn’t be surprised if Henry’s gruff Mississippi blues twang comes in handy when he’s getting a round in. Having the stature of a jockey and pretending to be B.A. Baracus didn’t work for me when I was 17, but each to their own.
Anyway, the band have kindly let me listen to two tracks from their debut album: ‘The Merchant’, which was released last August, and ‘Coffee Rock’. If you want to hear the rest of the album, you’ll have to get yourself to the launch party at 45Live in Kidderminster on 6th October, where they’ll be supported by the ‘female Billy Bragg’, Jess Silk, who has toured with The Levellers. From said date, you can also listen to the album via all the usual digital platforms.
At around a minute in on ‘The Merchant’, Henry asks, ‘What you hiding up your sleeve?’ (the rest of the album, presumably) before a funky solo riff takes centre stage: think the soundtrack to someone leaving a taxi in 70s New York and striding down the street like Shara Nelson in the video for Massive Attack’s ‘Unfinished Sympathy’, or for you younger ones, Richard Ashcroft in ‘Bittersweet Symphony’. There then follows an impressive sonic wig out for both the hippies and the moshers. Nice inclusive touch, that. The first rapid chords on ‘Coffee Rock’ could have been snipped from a Nirvana album, and the whole song has the pleasingly ramshackle tone of early Kings of Leon. At one point, Henry channels his inner Jack White, and Frankie’s flanger guitar solo is worth the launch party entrance fee alone.
‘Classic’ also means ‘judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality’. If Broken Wires sound as good as this now, Lord knows how good they’ll sound in the future.
Find out more about Broken Wires via their LinkTree.
By: Neil Laurenson