Today marks the release of Enter Shikari's 5th album, The Spark. I waited up until midnight for it to hit Spotify (signed vinyl en route) and by 9am I had both slept and listened to the album 5 times! It's infectiously brilliant, upbeat and anthemic but lyrically it feels like such a personal, soul-baring album.
It makes you feel good straight from the off, with a peppy synth track and Rou's wonderful voice asking "Are you staying awake for the lift off tonight?" as we kick off with The Sights. A beautiful opening track that really sets the bar high for the remainder of the album! From early on you can tell that this will be like no other Enter Shikari album that has come before it and I love that with all of my heart. My favourite thing about Enter Shikari is the fact that I've been listening to them for almost 11 years and they've never once failed to surprise me! They never feel to keep it fresh, every time they release a new track or a new album, you just know you're in for a fresh take on the Shikari sound!
From The Sights we roll into the now very familiar Live Outside, which just never fails to get old no matter how many times I listen to it. It's such a catchy tune that you can't help but get stuck in your head, I've caught so many people whistling along to it! This one is one of the tracks that I personally can not wait for in November, it's going to be an absolute belter live!
Take My Country Back is Shikari's little dose of politicism we've all come to expect, which rings volumes in our post-Brexit vote Britain. The chorus chants "Look what we've done to ourselves, we've really gone and fucked it this time" which is a feeling shared by many frustrated brits right now! It wouldn't be a Shikari record without tracks like this, they've become a lifeblood that we all know and love.
And from there we delve into Airfield, and all of your emotions suddenly come flooding out. This track got to me on a very deep, personal level. Rou's vocals immediately make you feel delicate and the lyrics are chilling. This one just feels so much like a message to those who struggle, a way to tell everyone that things can only get better and that we're all in this together. The song closes out with a repetition of the words "So you're down on your luck, yeah you're down. You're down on your luck, your down but that don't mean you're out" and I think all of us can relate to this on some level. Some of us more than others, this one got to me. I'm really hoping they play this one live so I can belt that outro out along with everyone else who probably relates to it as much as I do!
Rabble Rouser comes next, kicking you in the teeth straight from the off. I listened to this song when Annie Mac featured it as her hottest record and I couldn't stop listening after that! It was so different from Live Outside, the already familiar first single, and that got me so excited for the album. When Rou croons "Are you getting nervous?" in gorgeous falsetto it gets you excited every time and the little grime-esque infusion sits so well on this track, the flow and the beat settle so perfectly alongside the synth track and make such a brilliant little song that is also gonna be incredible to be in the crowd for!
It's impossible to get a grip on where this album as going as we head from Rabble Rouser into Shinrin-yoku and we receive our fill of the trumpet! This track feels like it should be the soundtrack to a night under the stars. It's simplicity creates something beautiful that has already become one of my favourite tracks on the album! A slow build up that becomes a flurry of emotion as we get closer to the end.
Shinrin-yoku fades seamlessly into Undercover Agents, which may just be tied for my favourite track. I stayed up to listen to this one on Huw's Radio 1 show on Wednesday and I wasn't disappointed, another track with a fantastic slow and steady synth track that makes your hairs stand on end. The chorus is the most anthemic part of the entire album as Rou sings of howling with the wolves. It's a song all about perception and how we see others, claiming we're all undercover agents and we only let people see the best of us. "I don't want the glass, I want to see the truth" is one of my favourite lyrics on the album, in the context of the song it's just so perfect.
The Revolt of the Atoms starts sinister, with distorted vocals and a discordant synth beat. There's a kind of dark energy to this song that's hard to describe, as they sing of the Atoms scheming to "wipe us out". An almost creepy, angry vibe to this song resonates throughout until the build up of madness at the end.
And the final track on the album is the most beautiful. It's called An Ode to Lost Jigsaw Pieces and this one will wrench on your heartstrings! Straight from the off there is so much emotion in Mr Reynolds voice as this one sounds so very personal, you can tell it's come from within. You feel so much like you're listening to a man bare his soul to you. After the pretty little interlude (that almost feels like it would fit into Take To The Skies, the bands first offering) the vocals suddenly have even more emotion packed into them and you feel yourself struggling to listen, as if you're intruding on someone else's pain. But at the same time you can't stop listening because you feel like it's absolutely imperative to hear what's being said. There's more emotion than I could ever describe in this song as we head towards the end with the words "Cos you're not with me but that's okay, we'll cope somehow. We'll all cope somehow" and that final explosion of emotion is almost too much to handle! This is a song about loss and the anxieties that come with and it's a song that's going to speak a lot to anyone who's ever lost a long term relationship or someone close to them. It'll break your heart but you'll love it for it. The track finishes on an exhale from Rou and I honestly just felt like in that moment I can relate so much to what the song was trying to tell us.
The Embers finishes us off with a pretty, instrumental fade out and that's the end of the emotional rollercoaster that is The Spark. I'm so glad I waited up to listen to it at midnight because it's rare to experience an album so emotional. The boys have really done it with this one, there's so much packed into this record and I'm so grateful that it exists.
In interviews leading up to the release Rou stated that he tried to make the songwriting much more personal on this album, and he definitely delivered. He's reduced large portions of his fan base to tears with these words. His lyrics have spoken on such a deep personal level about so many issues, this is a record that I truly hope will make people realises that anxiety and the struggles are a real thing that everyone suffers with. No one person is invincible from worry. Hats off to them for creating such a chillingly beautiful record with gorgeous production values and such a large variety of music. This record is so different to what we've come to expect from Enter Shikari and yet, I think it's my favourite record to date. I feel privileged to have been a part of this journey and now I eagerly anticipate the tour and I can not wait to hear these songs live as we all know how good a live band they are!
So I'd like to end this with delivering big love to Rou, Rory, Chris and Rob for creating such a gorgeous album and wish them good luck on the upcoming tour. See you in Cardiff! 💙
#CanYouHearUsNow
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