It’s been a little while since Make Do And Mend have been on the radar, and it’s always seemed that although they have maintained a die-hard fan base, they never quite escaped the shadows of some of the peers of “The Wave”. Across their career they have put out consistently high quality releases, and after signing to Rise Records for their 2012 album ‘Everything You Every Loved’ it seemed they were going to be the next big name. The album garnered critical acclaim, but in some ways they were passed over for other bands. That hasn’t stopped the Hartford, CT quartet however, as in the quiet they were busy putting together their third album ‘Don’t’ Be Long’, and to put it bluntly, its exceptional.
The album kicks off with all the grit of everybody’s favourite band Hot Water Music in the shape of the album’s title track, with front man James Carroll’s gravel-laced vocal feeling sharper than ever. The production of Nick Bellmore has made the guitars thick and crunchy on ‘Ever Since’ and ‘Bluff’, with the expert mixing skills of Jay Mass giving the melodic lead lines of ‘Old Circles’ room to breathe.
This is not an album that has solely relied on fantastic production techniques and studio trickery however, as Make Do And Mend just know how to write perfect punk rock songs. ‘Each Of Us’ somehow captures the zeitgeist of the Florida-like punk scene from nearly 20-years ago, and gives it an updated breath of life. The songs are crafted with precision, and in a case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” carry on the tradition of their well-oiled formula of huge choruses, and cavernous middle sections.
The sombre ‘I Don’t Wonder At All’ is stripped back to just Carroll and primarily an acoustic guitar, which is something Make Do And Mend haven’t been afraid to do in the past, and doesn’t feel out of place here on ‘Don’t Be Long’ either. They turn up the punk rock one last time on ‘Sanctimony’, with its self-examining lyrical narrative, before ending the album on the serene ‘Begging For The Sun To Go Down’, which relies largely on intricate instrumentation to deliver emotion.
While many bands have opted to take their music in a new path, either for creative exploration or to widen their reach, it is sometimes more refreshing now when a band can come out and just make a record of honest, and heartfelt punk-rock songs. That’s not to say that ‘Don’t Be Long’ is a carbon copy of their previous catalogue, its just proof sometimes that by doing what you do best is sometimes what people least expect from bands today. It won’t catapult Make Do And Mend on some sort of meteoric rise, but then the best punk bands never do that anyway, and if they continue to make solid albums like ‘Don’t Be Long’, then they are doing punk rock right.
GLEN BUSHELL