TEN THINGS WE LOVE ABOUT SIR VERE’S ‘PSYCHOBALLISTICFUNK’ ALBUM

 1)   'SONAR' SETS ITS LAZERS TO STUN

A great album isn't a great album without a great opening, and 'Psychoballisticfunk' starts with a hailstorm of lazer fire, the crunch of drum machines and echoing dub effects. As icebreakers go, it's a corker, and even better, it's over in what feels like a flash, paving the way for the rest opf the album to unfold.

2)   JOHNNY MARR'S NAMECHECK ON 'NIGHT TIME'.

The album's third track is a boisterous stream of consciousness about a night out on the razzle, including bumping into a Spanish woman who, it transpires, has Rickenbacker guitar stashed in the back of her car. “She can play like Johnny Marr,” declares singer Craig Hammond with a mixture of amazement and adoration.
Hear 'Night Time': here

3)   DRUMS, DRUMS AND MORE DRUMS ON 'YOU, ME & THE CONTINUUM'

No prizes for guessing which instrument is the focus of this track, as a tsunami-sized wave of percussion overwhelms the mix, with only the subtlest of  electronic augmentation included to keep it fresh.

4)   ‘LIGHTS OUT’ – AND EYES DOWN FOR A FULL HOUSE

‘Psychoballisticfunk’ is packed with cleverly syncopated layers of sampled breakbeats and live drums meshed together.  But then there’s this, the shuffling, thumping house monster that is ‘Lights Out’.  Chunky heaven.

5)   SHEVVY MURPHYY'S VOCALS ON 'BUSTED LOOP'

Hammond is joined by female vocalist Shevvy Murphy on the brash, punky 'Busted Loop', about the frustration of being stuck queuing outside a nightclub just as the evening's chemical entertainment begins to kick in.  Her handling of the sassy sounding chorus is what makes it unforgettable.

6)   THE UK GARAGE BASS PRESSURE ON 'DO YOU LOVE ME (ANYMORE)'

In the dim and distant past, Sir-Vere counted one Zed Bias – he of massive UKG hit 'Neighbourhood' - as a band member.  These days it's Stevie Vega who takes on beats and bass duties but the colossal. nostril-tweaking sub-bass b-line that graces this electro/breaks hybrid shows their ability to incorporate the genre into their sound and make it sounds totally natural.

7)   'ALL FUNKED UP’S RIFF POWER

Sir-Vere guitarist Gary Morland makes a heap of key contributions across 'Psychoballisticfunk', but this is probably the best.  A nifty three note riff, nicely distorted, rides the single note bassline, with glorious results that sound like AC/DC and the Chemical Brothers joining forces.

 8)   HAMMOND'S CONSPIRACY THEORY LYRICS

'Holy Fool', rumoured to be about Donald Trump and the religious right in America, and 'Consume Me', with its dark utterances about Big Brother, show a lyrical bent that's head and shoulders above the usual twaddle that passes for words in most dance music.

9)   THE RETRO FUTURISM OF ‘THE SUNDANCE KISS’

Put simply, you’ve just got to love those swirling 80s synths….

10) THE BEGINNING OF THE END, ON 'LIPS'

The album's closing track is a fittingly blissful, euphoric climax to proceedings.  It's great throughout but its intro is truly spine tingling, with piano and strings intertwining to evoke memories of Prodigy at their most stirring and epic.  

The new album PSYCHOBALLISTICFUNK is out soon on Wall of sound Records