Percy: New Phase
CD / Stream / Download
Out Now
Percy unveil their latest album, New Phase, to an unsuspecting world. Who’d have thought psychosis, Satanic rites and mortality could be so much fun?
Founded in York, Percy have been around a while but with New Phase, they do indeed sound like a band reborn. Brimming with ideas, imagination and spontaneity, this is an album touched by genius with just a hint (ok, make that a dollop) of madness thrown into the mix. Not bad for a record the band describe as; ‘An honest statement about life over 40.’ This old dog is clearly far from being moribund just yet. The most exciting thing about New Phase is that it has the ability to keep the listeners on the edge of their seats wondering where on earth the weird and wonderful musings will lead next, each song taking unexpected twists and turns to create a sense of anticipation as one track ends and the next commences.
Percy are instinctive storytellers with a great knack for setting scenes, creating characters and unfolding tales of the everyday, the unexpected and even the macabre, all within the space of three or four minutes, each narrated with natural wit and humour. Take Sink Estate Satanic Rites, an edgy, frantic slice of gothic punk which reimagines The Wicker Man in urban Yorkshire rather than rural Scotland. Last Train To Selby continues in similar vein as the track rattles along with the manic velocity of The Fall’s Container Drivers, the dark mood more Misfits than Monkees.
Blackout deals with that all too familiar anxiety of being unable to remember what the hell you did the night before, but with the awful feeling that it was nothing good. The oft-repeated; “And then it hit me”, delivered with a venom reminiscent of early Stranglers, evokes that moment of terrible realisation before the nasty little twist is revealed. Things get even stranger with I Can Hear Orgies, an unsettling message from beyond the grave of a man guided, not by Satanic voices, but the sound of sex acts from the flat below. Everyone seems to be going on about Taylor Swift rather than Percy at the moment, but if she was really any good, this is the kind of stuff she’d be coming up with isn’t it? There really is no justice.
As well as telling great stories, Percy aren’t averse to making a statement or dealing with “issues”, always with that trademark, slightly off-kilter world view of theirs. Title track New Phase, possibly born of post-40 midlife crisis, is all jagged, insistent guitars as it tackles the need to reinvent yourself – out with the old, in with the new; ‘Just want the freedom to do things as I please, I’ve been half way to paradise, but I’ve never been to Leeds.” Maybe not the height of ambition, but you get the gist. Of course, this being Percy, we’re left wondering if a change is ever as good as a rest. And if turning over a new leaf isn’t your thing, Thinking Of Jacking It In Again offers a more straight forward solution, set to the sound of manic fairground organ and broken glass staccato violin.
Do You Think I’m On The Spectrum?, a deceptively jaunty little number, asks where personalty quirks end and diagnosis kicks in; ‘I put down eleven sheets, double-sided, on the edge of the toilet seat, do you think I’m on the spectrum?’, while the snarling Greedy People decries the accumulation of wealth for wealth’s sake; ‘I refute the suggestion, or your insinuation, that the root of evil is my sole motivation…But it’s not about the money, it’s about the principle.’ Upbeat despite the serious topic, You Never Know cheerfully speaks of increasing health anxiety and hypochondria brought on by the afore-mentioned onset of middle-age, before the uncharacteristically subdued Afterlife appropriately brings things to a close, speculating about the inevitable consequences of that irreversible physical decline.
While the above hopefully gives an inkling of the treasures waiting in store in the fantastical world of Percy, it’s highly recommended that you set aside forty minutes of your time with your favourite tipple and immerse yourself in this album from beginning to end – then do it again and again to allow the little nuggets of wisdom and edgy but uplifting beats (recorded largely as live) to infiltrate your brain. We all have different musical tastes, but New Phase is an album which has something for everyone, and you are strongly encouraged to share it with friends and family alike. While your elderly grandmother or six-year-old child may find some of the subject matter a little challenging, not to mention downright horrific, it will give them a whole new perspective on life for which, one day, they will definitely thank you.
All words by Robin Boardman. More writing from Robin for Louder Than War can be found at his author’s archive.
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