Uppers

Album review

Just as it's hard to believe Jason Williamson's claim that he never heard the Fall before forming Sleaford Mods, it's all but impossible to imagine TV Priest could have existed without Protomartyr creating the template. Thick walls of guitar-based throb? A pounding rhythm section making a serious wallop? A vocalist who talks rather than sings as he bellows what sounds like blank verse poetry about the sorry state of our culture? All these qualities are present and accounted for on 2021's Uppers, the first album from London quartet TV Priest, and vocalist Charlie Drinkwater even sounds a bit like Joe Casey to make the effect complete. It's ridiculously easy to identify TV Priest's greatest influence, but if they lifted the big idea from someone else, to their credit they're good enough at what they're doing that you're not likely to mind, even if you're on Team Protomartyr. Drinkwater is a muscular, charismatic frontman and he brings a strong voice and a subtly intelligent phrasing to his rants, which manage to be direct and filled with impressionistic detail at the same time. Alex Sprogis' guitar work is artful enough to elevate his sound above the traditional post-punk clang and skronk (his lead figure on "Journal of a Plague Year" sounds like he's been listening to Guided by Voices in his spare time), and bassist Nic Bueth adds occasional keyboards that bring an effective level of atmospheric menace when they rise up in the mix. (Sprogis and Bueth are in especially fine fettle on the instrumentals "History Week" and "The Ref," something Protomartyr would likely not have thought to do.) Every worthwhile band needs a good drummer, and Ed Kelland has the strength and the imagination to give this music the backbone it needs. Much of Uppers was written and recorded while TV Priest were in isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic (they managed to play only one live gig before lockdown put an end to playing out), which might explain the inward gaze that led to them embracing their influences so strongly. That said, this is also a style and approach that works quite well for them, and there's a venomous wit and observational eye to "Press Gang," "Decorations," and "Slideshow" that gives this music a mind of its own. Hopefully time will lead TV Priest to devise a more individual musical personality, but judging from Uppers, they have more than enough talent to make them a group to watch.

© Mark Deming /TiVo