How quick has this year passed by… I’m racking my head thinking of the new music I’ve most enjoyed this year… PJ Harvey is right up there with ‘Let England Shake’ and this morning I woke up to the beautiful stillness of Mazzy Star’s latest single ‘Lay myself Down’ which takes me to an equally good place… WULYF ‘Go tell Fire to The Mountain’ is an album that also deserves momentous tribulations for its existence, and it’s been great discovering the music of Surfer Blood and Tame Impala from Florida and Perth, Australia respectively.

So closer to home, with the release of Yorkshire by For Abel, one of Glasgow’s finest emerging bands…I can happily say that this pedigree of song is for me included with some of the best tunes of the year so far … We here at the Northernline put out a review of their debut Album ‘Greater Inventions’ back in May… Released by Glasgow’s own Flowers In The Dustbin label it’s been picking up promising accolades all over the shop… and after years of effort, it has got the bands music out where it needs to be…

So if you haven’t already taken a listen, Yorkshire is the best song to get a flavor of what these lads are up to. If every indie pop / rock band managed to put out a song like this – the world would be a better place. Its got spark, its got energy, and this band are surely about to explode across Northern Britain and beyond so Nov 5th seems a fitting night for a gig to coincide with the release, not least to quote the record company “Like the song says, Britain in 2011 looks ‘like a scene from ‘89’. Unemployment figures have hit their highest since 1989. On Nov 5th we are not suggesting anyone blows up the Houses of Parliament, but we are suggesting that it’s time to vote no confidence in a Tory government. They are the enemies of the poor. We need to replace this government with one that believes in the equality of human beings. Consign the Tories to the history books!”

Is this a manifesto! So bringing the politics into the music ( a brave endeavour ) the band have taken on the role of promoting or playing with this ‘Never trust a Tory’ ethos, and you only have to watch the video to accompany the release to get the general idea! Can ‘Occupy’ protesters and For Abel change the forces of a corrupted system and incite revolutions to commence – well just maybe, perhaps, it would be nice… But with Yorkshire, For Abel bring their infectious and resonating form of guitar driven indie pop to a growing fanbase for sure…

In vocal lines such as ‘’wearing clothes that don’t fit me” and the chorus chant of “All these promises” there would appear to be a much more personal message that is revealed at its heart, perhaps this is more about a conversation with a former girlfriend than the state of the world today… As a sucker for a good tune I like this a lot – its catchy, the simplicity and ferocity of the opening guitar chords, give way to vocals charged with a bittersweet melody and tinged with emotion… It sparkles and shines… and your stereo will love it.

So the single is available as of now and features a remix by Jo Martin-Kelly drummer with the band Evol who has twisted and reshaped the guitar sounds, into a fairly fierce experimental composition that after break beat loops drifts off into an extended sonic landscape of noise, his reaction to Yorkshire, retaining the guitar essence of the song with the darker Joy division- esque bassline rising to the fore.

I’ve attached a link to another Remix by Glasgow based producer and king of pixelated squelching and general electronic wizardry, MagicDaddy … I like this a lot, the whole dance thing adds a new dimension to the song… turn it up loud and there is some serious slamming action throughout… and the song carefully entwines the techno glitch beats and bleeps that is MagicDaddy’s forte with the structure and vocals of the original track.. It’s uplifting and unique.

The Captains Rest was the venue for the single Launch, and support included The Recusants and Sonic Hearts Foundation. Those who made it out into the Guy Fawkes evening mist, were in good spirits, and seemed captivated and locked into the performance For Abel put on… It’s been good to see For Abel fine-tune their performance and step up to the next level… Since the release of Greater Inventions their gigs seem to have an added sense of purpose and togetherness, for me tonight shown in the dynamics between all four members with the addition of new drummer Darren Foy. The band seem complete and at one with each other and this will clearly help in moving forward with new material. A couple of new songs from a forthcoming album were played and went down well, hinting perhaps at a more grungier, rockier sound, they retain the essence of For Abel with passionate vocal lines wrapping around well structured and edgy guitar and bass riffs. Their debut album Greater Inventions, with songs like Yorkshire and the B side to the single On TV is going to be a difficult act to follow and the future for this band seems hinged on what direction they take from here… I look forward to hearing more…

Flowers In the Dustbin
For Abel on Soundcloud
Evol Facebook page
Magic Daddy remix
Tom Manley Photography

By Tom Manley on November 8, 2011