With the state of the music industry today, you’d forgive bands for tip-toeing initially with their audience but Duke Of Marmalade, a band of four upstarts from Milton Keynes do no such thing.
‘Say It Like You Mean It‘ is their debut EP, consisting of four tracks and from the off it oozes with a confident swagger that is very rare from artists, especially these days. ‘Lemonade Pockets‘ kicks you in the face with a wah-wah seventies rock lead guitar line before fitting in with a pre-chorus that echoes the importance of a ska-dance beat in an indie song and a chorus that stamps its foot, screaming at you to chant along with it. ‘Screaming Sirens Sound‘ is easily the stand out track on the EP with a punky urgency to it but with almost old British ska tendency to it vocally and lyrically, to add to this, it has a cracking bridge that you just won’t be expecting at all but it sounds fantastic all the same. ‘Everywhere I Go‘ on the other hand, starts off in a melancholy manner unlike the previous songs on this record and despite losing the beauty of the subtle strummed guitar sound, Duke Of Marmalade possess the talent to bring out a Placebo-esque chorus which will (I promise you this) get you singing “everywhere I go” along with them.
At times on this EP it feels like vocally, things don’t fit, but by the final two tracks it’s clear that it works and does so to great effect with the band vocally sounding like that dark haired geezer from Mcfly (no offense intended there) and musically a mix between perhaps The Automatic and Arctic Monkeys with some old-school balls out British punk and ska thrown in for good measure. The production on the EP is pretty much perfect not taking anything away from the much needed raw sound of the band.
It’s still early days for Duke Of Marmalade and yes, ‘Say It Like You Mean It‘ is by no means flawless, but what a cracking way of showing the country that you exist.
[Rating: 3.5]
www.dukeofmarmalade.co.uk
