Think of the ending scene to The Breakfast Club, where five detention-dwelled students have just tackled their inner demons with each other and are now going on their own separate paths. As Simple Minds starts to soar behind “The Brain” Brian’s narration, the young hopefuls are about to embark on new exciting beginnings. Now imagine that but with British reservations and sarcastic wit. This is a good way of describing The Staves’ fourth album All Now; Hertfordshire sisterhood duo Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor have entered a fresh chapter by embarking on an album without their eldest sister Emily for the first time. Emily decided to leave the band so that she could concentrate on motherhood.
2021’s predecessor Good Woman was the equivalent of the detention in The Breakfast Club, a space for the then trio to process a lot of long term anguish. Especially coming to terms with the death of their mother Jean, who passed away 3 years prior. All Now gives Jessica and Camilla the chance to – as put on the country twang acoustics ‘The Echo’ – “reset, rewrite, sleep well, it will all be better in the morning light”. There are times when the multi-coloured music on All Now can sound Americanized (understandable with American producer John Congleton once again at the helm) but the lyrics are written with idiosyncratic English cautious optimism that will make it relate especially to those from England, while also providing perhaps helpful insight to the uninitiated.
“Where do we begin? It’s all now, isn’t it exciting? isn’t it exciting? isn’t it exciting? isn’t it?” a sarcastic rhetorical question that repeats on title track ‘All Now’. Despite the song having the anticipating air of The Who’s 1971 ‘Baba O’ Reily’ through its elevating drum hits, metronomic keyboard pressing and classic rock grit, it documents the overwhelming nature of social media commodity. The need for musicians to brand each song with a protesting message and showcase this brand online before the likelihood that a corrupt corporation will jump on the bandwagon and steal it for their own means. “Still the value on the package and the camera on the skin. Still the focus on the eye, not the biscuit, just the tin” makes one of think of a product placement TikTok video. “Would it be alright, If I sit this one out tonight? But you can go wild, dear” expresses the feeling of befuddled exhaustion that much of the album attempts to tackle. The “Have A Happy New Year” chanting at the end is particularly amusing, as if a new year can bring the promise of change but can also be a reminder that the same cycle of cynicism is upon us.
The vitreous soft rock song ‘I Don’t Say It But I Feel It’ directly addresses the English stiff upper lip mentality. Written as The Staves were looking out of a train at the whooshing scenery flying past them, it reminded them of all the thoughts and hidden emotions one has everyday but doesn’t wish to express fully or at all. The Staveley-Taylor sisters question whether they have acted this way due to their nationality. “I don’t say it but I feel it. Is it because I’m, because I’m English?”
It’s one of many songs on All Now that have great memorable hooks and euphonious synchronized harmonies that makes one want to play it on repeat, but the other good thing about All Now musically is how it feels both cohesive as a unit and yet sonically ambitious. ‘Great Wave’ recalls the lurky rockabilly of Chris Isaak’s ‘Baby Did A Big Bad Thing’. Surprising rock twists and turns on the song highlight the obstacles Jessica and Camilla’s fear, aiming to tackle the small issues before braving the bigger problems: “I’m a side effect of everything I’ve done. I’ve been a coward running far away whenever there is a drop of rain. Let alone to embrace myself in the face of the great wave.” The fuzzy sepia-toned ‘After School’ uses mellotron and calls to mind another sister-group First Aid Kit if they sung 1970s’ classics Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Free Bird’, Elton John’s ‘Daniel’ as well as recapturing the essence of the theme tune to Grange Hill. This is all appropriate as the song is meant to act as a flashback scrapbook ode to times when the younger siblings Jessica and Camilla looked up their older sister Emily. It contains evocative details of childhood memory: “You’ve got those long long legs, I can’t keep up because I’m too damn slow / remember when you cut your hair like a boy, I thought you looked the shit.”
After a Laura Marling-esque vignette ditty that reveals more of The Staves’ sarcastic wit: “leave it up to us to orbit your sun, don’t you worry hun, you’re the important one“, All Now concludes with the powerful ‘You Held It All’. Beginning like a Chariots of Fire sunrise, the song could become a potential gig favourite. Albeit there are many songs on the record that will provide sing-alongs at future concerts, especially along with the Americana campfire croon about being friends with oneself ‘I’ll Never Leave You Alone’. ‘You Held It All’ is The Staves finally learning to break through the apprehensive English mentality barrier and feeling comfortable with speaking their mind. “I don’t wanna talk tonight. I don’t wanna hear. Pushing it away to the side. Won’t make it disappear / You held it all. And you did not let it go.” The sisters can punch their fists in the air to the future like John Bender at the end of The Breakfast Club with a renewed sense of confidence.
