Archive Material. Silverbacks

Archive Material? It seemed like Silverbacks was about to release songs leftover from the writing and recording process around 'Fad', it's debut album from 2020. It turns out to be an album containing new work. And a spectacularly good album it is.

Silverbacks is a band from Dublin that can easily be lumped in with many new bands that have risen to, some kind of, prominence in the past four years. Shame, Fontaines D.C., IDELS, Global Charming, etc., etc., bands from Ireland, the U.K. and the Netherlands that take their inspiration from the late 70s, early 80s Talking Heads, new wave, postpunk and Franz Ferdinand c.s. in the 00s.

Where 'Fad' was nice, Archive Material is the giant leap forward putting Silverbacks in the front seat of the movement with Global Charming. On Archive Material Silverbacks manages to combine an alternative pop/rock feel with notes and chords that are at the edge of making the hair stand up on my arms but never does as it always manages to please instead. Of course, this music will be a corner or two or perhaps even more for the average pop fan, but anyone who has grooved to 'More Songs On Buildings And Food' at the time may want to listen to Archive Material, as should anyone who loved 'Take Me Out' or 'Darts Of Pleasure'.

Chauvinist alternative rocker I am, well, not really, I have lauded many an album from my country in the past few years. However, Shame's first album is very probably my favourite album in the newest wave of new wave, to give the genre a name. Archive Material is about to start competing it feels like. It is competing with Global Charming's 'Mediocre, Brutal' for second place for sure. Yes, I hear a lot that has been done before on all these albums, but not necessarily done (a lot) better. It is musically up to par, melodically far stronger than a lot of the 1980s originals from the U.K., let alone contemporary colleagues. Talking Heads is of course the U.S. godfather here.

Photo: Róisín Murphy O'Sullivan

One of the strong points of this album is the shared lead vocals between singer/guitarist Daniel O'Kelly and singer/bassist Emma Hanlon. It gives the album its extra. The vocal duties are shared more widely than on the debut, 'Fad', which gives Archive Material more balance. The pointy and sticky rhythms and guitar melodies make me wonder how you create them, let alone play them. Fact is they are to the point and work together with the melodies sprinkled out over the listener.

The outlier on the album is the ambient instrumental track 'Carshade'. It works as a point of rest in the middle of the album but only in that sense. As if to throw a pigsty at pearls. It's not that bad but I do seriously wonder why the song is on the album.

That Silverbacks has extensively studied Talking Heads for this album, is undeniable. The new wave band's music is all over Archive Material. The way it has incorporated this music into its own music is superb. The result is a superior mix of era's. This music is exiting, danceable, great to listen and sing-a-long to. There simply is not much more to ask for when listening to a new album. With Archive Material Silverbacks puts it in the lead of the new alternative rock wolfpack.

Wout de Natris