{"id":13064,"date":"2020-08-18T05:00:48","date_gmt":"2020-08-18T05:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=13064"},"modified":"2020-08-17T19:20:34","modified_gmt":"2020-08-17T19:20:34","slug":"levellers-peace-on-the-fiddle-recordings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=13064","title":{"rendered":"Levellers \u2013 \u2018Peace\u2019 (On The Fiddle Recordings)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In the wake of Coronavirus many albums being released are cited as \u201can album of the times\u201d or \u201cthe soundtrack to lockdown\u201d, yet most were written and recorded before lockdown was even a thing. It seems some musicians are just clued in to the right frequency for the times. One such band is Brighton folk heroes the Levellers.<\/p>\n

Now, Levellers have been releasing \u201can album of the times\u201d since their first album \u2018A Weapon Called The Word\u2019 was released on an unsuspecting world in 1990. Taking their name from the political movement, the band have always been outspoken with their left-wing political views and voicing change with their lyrics and in interviews.<\/p>\n

They outgrew their humble, crusty beginnings, headlined Glastonbury in 1994 and even bothered the charts a few years later with the likes of \u2018Just The One\u2019 and \u2018What A Beautiful Day\u2019. The mid nineties saw the band go it alone, becoming independent with their own self-contained headquarters called The Metway. There they have their offices, where they run the fan club, it houses a rehearsal space and recording studio. And they continue to be self-sufficient to this day with their On The Fiddle record label.<\/p>\n

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While \u2018Peace\u2019 is their first new studio album in 8 years, the band has not been sitting on their laurels. 2008\u2019s \u2018We The Collective\u2019 saw the band re-imagine an album of their songs acoustically, with an orchestra at Abbey Road. They continue to tour extensively and host their own Beautiful Days Festival. The recent deluxe vinyl reissues of their discography have kept fans content in the lead up to album number 11.<\/p>\n

And album number 11 is a throwback to what the band does best. Produced by long time collaborator Sean Lakeman, \u2018Peace\u2019 sees the band in fine form, delivering the perfect mix of Celtic, guitar-driven anthems and folk-tinged balladry.<\/p>\n

3 singles have whetted the fans appetites over the past months in lockdown. Opener and first single \u2018Food Roof Family\u2019 is an energised burst of noise, with driving bass and frantic fiddle and the same thought provoking lyricism that captures the same vibe as their early recordings. An instant anthem. With its retro keyboard refrain \u2018Generation Fear\u2019 sees a different, edgy direction. Still bold, brazen and relevant in 2020, it will surely become a future live favourite, guaranteed to get your inner crusty bouncing. \u2018Calling Out\u2019 sees guitarist Simon Friend take to the mic for a raspy tale of escaping the rat race. All 3 have their own merits but are very much Levellers in sound and feel.<\/p>\n

Friend appears for lead vocals on several occasions, as he has done in the past. The emotive \u2018Four Boys Lost\u2019 is a sea shanty recalling the tragic tale of sailors lost at sea. \u2018The Men Who Would Be King\u2019 is raucous, punk fuelled noise-mongery, and for the first time he duets with singer Mark Chadwick on the marvellous \u2018Albion and Phoenix\u2019. The latter references the bands beginnings, Albion being a hill in Brighton and The Phoenix is the squat they used to hang out at. Full of choppy riffs and melodious fiddle, the juxtaposition of Chadwick and Friend\u2019s vocals work perfectly on a song of reflection and sentimentality.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the likes of Chadwick\u2019s \u2018Born That Way\u2019 with its Clash-lite riff and fiddle refrain, along with Friend\u2019s upbeat stomper \u2018Our New Day\u2019 show the more commercial mid-nineties Levellers along with the more poignant traditional laments of \u2018Ghost In The Water\u2019 and album closer \u2018Our Future\u2019.<\/p>\n

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Choc-a-bloc with their trademark observational lyricism and Celtic punk vibes, \u2018Peace\u2019 preaches a message of hope, which is nothing new for this band, but in these trying times the message seems just as relevant, if not more so than it was in the early nineties. They may be older, wiser and not the angry young punks they once were, but the Levellers still have something to say and in the current political and social climate, \u2018Peace\u2019 could well be the perfect soundtrack to our times.<\/p>\n

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Buy ‘Peace’ Here<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: Ben Hughes<\/p>\n