Album Review

Sheer Mag - Need To Feel Your Love

Name: Sheer Mag - Need To Feel Your Love Review
Item: Need To Feel Your Love
Rating: 3
Author: Dork

Attitude, angst and electrifying riffs.

Released: 6th July 2017

Words: Dork

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Attitude, angst and electrifying riffs.

After three EP-length invigorating blasts of soulful punk’n’roll, Sheer Mag’s debut is finally upon us. If those first few 7"s frequently appeared to have been recorded on an ancient tape machine, possibly in someone’s house, it’s probably because they were. But there was more to this five-piece than raw, gritty production and passionate, charged messages (‘Whose Side Are You On?’, or the anti-gentrification ‘Fan the Flames’). Here were punks who loved Fleetwood Mac; hard rockers who dug disco - a band who’d call themselves Sheer Magnitude and have the white-hot potency to back it up.

And all those things that made the EPs so vital are here; sharpened, refined even, but losing little of their DIY ethos or rough edges. The title might suggest that political issues get sidelined for the personal, but lines like: “There was a time when my dreams were coming true / Our future is so unclear” (‘Need To Feel Your Love’) - a touch of Janis Joplin’s bluesy rasp to Tina Halladay’s howl - hit with the same fevered intensity as: “If you don’t give us the ballot, expect the bayonet” (‘Expect The Bayonet’), or “Throwing rocks at the boys in blue” (‘Meet Me in the Street’). Self-respect, righteous anger and getting organised can all be part of Sheer Mag’s message of love.

Attitude, angst and electrifying riffs.

There are many musical layers, too: ‘Turn It Up’ has a glam-metal swagger and an unblushingly acrobatic guitar solo from Kyle Seely; ‘Suffer Me’ retrofits a pro-equality and tolerance narrative onto a hoary Southern-rock sound. The power-popping fuzz and jangle of ‘Milk and Honey’ sports the ragged charm of The Replacements, while ‘Pure Desire’ and the title track swing with a tight Nile Rodgers-esque disco pulse. There’s a brief, brittle ballad too, in the shape of the lo-fi ‘Until You Find The One’, and the closing ‘(Say Goodbye to) Sophie Scholl’ is a tragic, buoyantly melodic ode to non-violent resistance. Rob Mesure

Sheer Mag - Need To Feel Your Love

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The Itch - It's The Hope That Kills You

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Holly Humberstone - Cruel World

My New Band Believe - My New Band Believe

Good Kid - Can We Hang Out Sometime?

RAYE - This Music May Contain Hope

Julia Cumming - Julia

Lime Garden - Maybe Not Tonight

Gretel - Squish

Tomora - Come Closer

The Itch - It's The Hope That Kills You

Arlo Parks - Ambiguous Desire

Holly Humberstone - Cruel World

My New Band Believe - My New Band Believe

Good Kid - Can We Hang Out Sometime?

RAYE - This Music May Contain Hope

Julia Cumming - Julia

Lime Garden - Maybe Not Tonight

Gretel - Squish

Tomora - Come Closer

The Itch - It's The Hope That Kills You

Arlo Parks - Ambiguous Desire

Holly Humberstone - Cruel World

My New Band Believe - My New Band Believe

Good Kid - Can We Hang Out Sometime?

RAYE - This Music May Contain Hope

Julia Cumming - Julia

Lime Garden - Maybe Not Tonight

Gretel - Squish

Tomora - Come Closer

The Itch - It's The Hope That Kills You

Arlo Parks - Ambiguous Desire

Holly Humberstone - Cruel World

My New Band Believe - My New Band Believe

Good Kid - Can We Hang Out Sometime?

RAYE - This Music May Contain Hope

Julia Cumming - Julia

Lime Garden - Maybe Not Tonight

Gretel - Squish

Tomora - Come Closer

The Itch - It's The Hope That Kills You

Arlo Parks - Ambiguous Desire

Holly Humberstone - Cruel World

My New Band Believe - My New Band Believe

Good Kid - Can We Hang Out Sometime?

RAYE - This Music May Contain Hope