Release Date: 11/09/2020
Record Label: Infinity Industries / AWAL
For Fans Of: Foals, Bombay Bicycle Club, Peter Gabriel
Musically complex and emotionally provocative, Everything Everything’s fifth studio album, Re-Animator, is somewhat of a rebirth for the Manchester-based alt. rock powerhouse. With a slightly schizophrenic feeling to the album’s concept, the quartet delve deep into the passive detachment from the outside world that has become widespread in today’s society. Re-Animator is a collection of tales of a higher consciousness told through spine-tingling dance tunes and atmospheric rock songs.
It’s rare for the scene to be set so vividly right from the outset but opening track ‘Lost Powers’ presents a simplistic pop vibe that gradually descends into chaos with an eerie, ethereal atmosphere present throughout the track. There’s a glitchy feel to a lot of songs on the record that has been carefully embedded within a gentle ‘80s homage felt through the synth layers and reverberated snare sounds. The eccentric nature of the band can leave you questioning what to expect but there’s always one constant in an Everything Everything record and that’s huge chorus after huge chorus – Re-Animator is no different with ‘Big Climb’ and ‘Planets’ demonstrating their superb ability to combine otherworldly sounds with a comforting pop backdrop. Frontman Jon Higgs’ earth-shattering falsetto has never sounded better; his effortlessly brilliant melodies on display throughout, however none more so than on ‘Black Hyena’ and ‘In Birdsong’.
The highlight of the album comes in the form of the super-climactic album closer, ‘Violent Sun’. Higgs himself has described the song as being “the biggest song we’ve ever written. Probably my only stipulation for the album was that we had a song that sounded like the last song of the night in a club. So, this song set out to capture that feeling of time running out, but also total euphoria.” It’s a bold statement when a band themselves describes a song as being their best ever but it’s hard to disagree. Everything Everything have delivered on every promise for ‘Violent Sun’ with a pounding rhythm and frantic top-line that fully captures that anxious, nervous energy that’s described so vividly in the lyrics.
Everything Everything have taken their sound to dramatic new heights in spectacular fashion with Re-Animator. Most songs conform to a “calm before the storm” structure as they take a little while to get going before suddenly exploding into life, with the record producing an almighty rise and fall flow as it shifts between the glitchy synths, pounding dance rhythms and jaw dropping vocals that have come to define the Everything Everything sound. Having already achieved two Mercury Prize nominations for their albums Man Alive and A Fever Dream, Re-Animator is every bit worthy of such an accolade and could see the band finally win the prestigious prize.
Rating – 9/10
Recommended Songs – ‘Violent Sun’, ‘Planets’