Simple. It’s so simple that it sounds rather original. Oh, yes, it’s The Maccabees’ “Colour It In”. Ah...wait, we used to enjoy that kind of sound, didn’t we? The Who. The Kinks. In those old days, music was simple and more direct. But, nowadays, “high-technology” allow musicians to manufacture sounds in recording studios, and hit-charts are dominated by songs that I can hardly point out the differences. Did old-days’ songs, or simple and direct sounds, all die out? No, no, no. We’ve got The Maccabees. The Maccabees is the band that is anachronistic but up-to-date. They don’t play cheep tricks. They don’t rely on “high-technology” too much. (That’s rare these days, isn’t it?) So, they sounds quite novel and we can feel that the music is actually played by flesh and blood musicians.

As for lyrics, its choices of words and phrases are unique and interesting. Words are not gorgeous but humorous. For example, “About Your Dress” is an excellent lyric that you can’t help grinning to yourself. In addition, you can’t ignore the charm of the vocals. The singer somehow stays in tune, although he often becomes very close to off-key. You may be a slave of the slipshod vocals by the end of the album. Also, the pace throughout the album is just right not to bore listeners.

Same pictures in different colours – each of those pictures gives us different impressions. The Maccabees painted their pictures (=their songs) with their own colours, without mimicking someone else’s works. The album, “Colour It In”, is an aggregate of those songs and the band coloured it in admirably.
<Billee>