“You gotta stamp your own brand and ideas on a scene.” So say The Skints on “GET ME!”, a track that opens with an unperturbed Cypress Hill vibe before mangling itself into something altogether more fuming. If there’s one thing that you can say for this East London quartet it’s that they certainly bring their own brand, a brand that’s scorching on the end of a red hot poker.
‘Live. Breathe. Build. Believe.’ is a punk album loaded with reggae. At the same time it’s a reggae album heaped with punk. As to which particular style is prominent, you can make arguments for both sides. ‘Mindless’ and ‘Contemplations of the Modern Rudeboy’ are evidence of the former whilst ‘Bright Girl’ and ‘Ya Know’ prove to be exhibits for the latter. Ultimately it doesn’t matter. This is a mash-up of punk and reggae, and then on top of that it’s layered with a whole cavalcade of nuances (when was the last time you heard a flute on a punk record?) and innovations. There’re keyboards, melodicas, pianos, brass, massive resonating bass lines, all canoodling with upstrokes, aggressive riffs and drums that touch both ends of the scale. It all comes across like a multicultural musical bazaar.
And then there are the vocals. It’s been mentioned before that the triumvirate of vocalists is one of the reasons The Skints stand out, but put everything that’s come before behind you: the earlier recordings; the live shows. This record eclipses all of that. Jamie Kyriakides has one of the most soulful and sublime vocals going, perfect for that reggae side. Josh Waters Rudge is the sandpaper to Kyriakides’ feather-light approach, all angst and conflict. Then delicately placed between the two just under the surface is Marcia Richards, just under the surface that is until ‘Roanna’s Song’, a heartfelt number that the multi-instrumentalist leads, emerging from the shadow of her two compatriots. There’s likely to be all kinds of Lily Allen comparisons but that’s not to scoff at, nor does it do justice to this unassumingly impressively track.
Production wise this is a gem. Put together almost seamlessly (there’re probably two musical breaks across the whole record) the album is very much a sprawling landscape rather than a mere collection of songs. It’s again a step up from previous recordings, and quite a large step at that. You only have to look at the reworked versions of ‘Sociopath’ and ‘Murderer’ (especially so) to hear a much richer and more textured sound. There’s a whole lot going on and it’ll take a whole heap of spins to get a grasp on all of it. At the same time though there’s plenty of instantaneous impact.
Following the kind of year The Skints have had, the risk would be that this debut record wouldn’t live up to the potential generated. It’s safe to say that this isn’t the case and the end product doesn’t so much as live up to that potential as completely obliterate it. ‘Live. Breathe. Build. Believe.’ is a deliciously layered slice of reggae-infused punk-rock that’s political without being preachy, heartfelt without being corny, and innovative without being up its own arse. Stellar stuff, indeed.
Alex