 | | The Longcut - A Call And Response |
Manchester has a particular trend of producing bands that provide such magic. In recent years, Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures, The Smiths and the Stone Roses’ eponymous debuts and Oasis’ Definitely Maybe have all achieved such a feat. And now The Longcut have joined that select group. A Call And Response captures Manchester today in a graphic and uncompromising snapshot, with all its hurtling history and roaring future. Industrial and melodic, bleak and inviting, it is an album that manages to stuff the whole of the city’s recent past into ten songs and still manage to come up with something utterly original. Moments ache with the echoes of empty expanse of Ian Curtis, the beats hit out from the floor of the Hacienda, Marr’s swirling guitars underscores melodies and Reni’s beats throb from the corners. Not that this is simply a Mancunian affair. There’s plenty of evidence of wider influences, not least in the staccato shouts of Stuart Ogilive, but this simply couldn’t have been born of any other city. Yet this is no nostalgia trip. From the opening salvo of A Last Act Of Desperate Men to the closing melody of Spires, The Longcut’s debut is a fervently forward looking affair. In the exhausting pressure of Transition, in the endearing sprawl of Holy Funk, in the dancefloor-filling A Quiet Life, in the haunting meander of Lonesome No More!; in every second of the album, it screams and whispers that this is it, this is now, this is what the future holds. In a time when the city is buzzing with talent, The Longcut have pushed themselves a head above the rest. Their live shows are already becoming legendary and somehow, they’ve managed to capture it all on record. Believe the hype, join the army, wear with pride – the most exciting band this city has produced for a decade is here. | 
