The Maccabees / Given To The Wild

The Maccabees
Given To The Wild
(Fiction)
* * * *

The Maccabees haven't just been one of the best bands of the last five years, they've also inspired closer devotion than most; fans have held them close to their hearts every step of the way, with 2009's 'Wall Of Arms' marking them out as evolutionary but not calculated.

On their third album they're taking a dive into the deepest end of them all; they're making Big Music - the kind of Big Music that might do battle with Coldplay - while sneaking past customs the blend of intimacy and raw propulsion that has, to date, enlarged them from indie heroes to Brixton Academy headliners.

This is the news: they haven't fallen on their arses. Album highlight 'Heave' proves the band can write spiritually conflicted music, with its Twin Peaks synths leading into a spookily transcendent motif. It's a dark secret written large, as perfect for a midnight sleepover as it is for a laser-shooting festival stage.

'Feel To Follow' journeys from breakbeats to a star-gazing climax, while the single 'Pelican' struts about like Springsteen dragging Eno up to dance. This 'aint shoe gazing - the band are practically ripping the roof off, which is perhaps why they called it 'Given To The Wind'.

Elsewhere we get reflective, slightly futuristic meditations which experiment with hip hop grooves, such as 'Go' and 'Child', the latter of which demonstrates the album's one drawback; the use of massive production to overblow its infrequent but undeniably just-OK songs.

The Maccabees have made a convincing and frequently moving step into the widescreen with album three – the crucial thing being that if it doesn’t propel them into arenas I don’t think they’d give a rat’s ass.