The latest guitar-led outfit with no few anthems in their pockets to emerge from north of the border – see also: Copy Haho, The Twilight Sad, Frightened Rabbit and Broken Records – Aberdeen-formed trio The Xcerts lay down a royal racket that ticks every box of instantaneousness while simultaneously threatening to steal the rock thunder of Biffy Clyro and their harder-edged peers.
Considerable touring has played its part in the creation of this, the band’s debut album, as while the studio’s clearly been used to its maximum potential – everything is covered in gloss enough to enhance, rather than drown (a mistake easily made), courtesy of well-regarded producer Dave Eringa – the rawness of songs such as ‘Home Versus Home’ and ‘Do You Feel Safe?’ shines through, all jagged peaks beneath a masking layer of fluffy cloud.
While a tinnitus-threatening proposition in the live environment, much of ‘In The Cold Wind We Smile’ exercises admirable restraint, allowing the band’s softer underbelly to reveal itself while never completely withdrawing from the edge of control a handful of arrangements teeter upon. Penultimate track ‘Aberdeen 1987’ is one such understated offering, where an acoustic guitar takes centre stage, with a xylophone and wandering piano line finding the gaps between the emotive vocals of Murray Macleod, here remarkable for their height in the mix. It’s a striking, standout song that presents a whole other, hugely accomplished side to this new band.
But, truth be told, the raucous numbers flick the most first-time switches: ‘Nightschool’ is ripped with an atmosphere of riotous drama, our central protagonist examining the decaying of a relationship with some bare-knuckle imagery; ‘Just Go Home’ is a pulse-racing rocker which will surely see bodies hurled this way and that at a live venue near you soon enough; and ‘Cool Ethan’ delivers its riffs like slugger blows, thuds coming in slow but sure, and certainly making an impressive impact.
Ultimately, ‘In The Cold Wind We Smile’ can be categorised alongside a great many records from a great many similar-sounding acts; what The Xcerts purvey is nothing that anyone halfway experienced in the world of modern domestic rock won’t have heard rumbles of before. But its execution makes it, each note perfectly placed and every song measured with meticulous attention to detail, however furious each facet can be.
All told: expect a teenager or two to be screaming themselves hoarse to this album on your local student campus in the immediate future.
