aaamusic | On 12, Feb 2011

It’s been 3 long years since The Duke Spirit last graced us with their presence with their sophomore album Nocturne, unfortunately, although it pains me to say it, they haven’t exactly made it easy for themselves. In todays musical landscape six months is a lifetime and only a select few bands have enough pull on their fanbase to be able to make them wait that long for new music, or indeed, any activity from their favourite band. What’s made harder is that for The Duke Spirit the song has remained steadfastly the same, toting the same three chord, Spacemen 3 style jams that they made their name with. And in the wrong hands it could all sound horribly 2005, but somehow, and against all probability, they’ve pulled it off. They sound invigorated, energised and ready to take on the world yet again. Take it as a good sign that the only bad thing about this E.P is that it’s painfully short, at only three songs long, however the band still manage to make their forthcoming album a definite one to watch on the strength of those songs alone.

Kicking off with single Everybody’s Under Your Spell, the band pull off that most rare of tricks, making a grower of a song that still manages to rock like a bastard since first listen. Imagine The Kills covering Kasabian as if their lives depended on it and you’re there. Victory follows things up with a slower pace but still retains the devil may care swagger that personifies the E.P as a whole. It also demonstrates vocalist Liela Moss’s uncanny ability to sing like an angel with one hell of an attitude. Northbound rounds things off on the lowest note of an album, straying close to ballad territory were it not for the dirty swathes of fuzz guitar that molest the chorus, and a big rock n roll blow-out of a  middle 8, it’s ridiculously exciting, and I personally can’t wait to see if they can stretch quality like this over a whole album. If they can, then we’ll have something genuinely special on our hands with this band. A heroically exciting prospect for 2011.

Author: Will Howard