Wednesday 5 March 2014

The Second Hand Marching Band.


Everyone loves a bit of DIY, right? Well The Second Hand Marching Band do. It has taken them 4 years, 20 instruments and 17 people to compile 13 songs, thus creating A Hurricane, a Thunderstorm.

The album opens calmly with the soft trumpets and accordion of Bypass (my favourite song from their previous demos). There aren't many songs about motorway signs, but this is the best out of what I've heard! The album picks up pace with tracks This is the Story, then We Will Convince You. The band want to convince you that you're not sad, and who would be with the quick beat of the drum making this a dance-able song when played live.

Female vocals lead the shortest song on the album Climbing Up the Walls before the band remind you that Love is a Fragile Thing in one of the standout tracks on the album. Signpost is a completely acoustic, minimal and quite lovely a song, while You Will/My Body is a Mess is clearly a song about an ex lover who liked to cause arguments.

The complimenting male and female vocals make Mull a very emotional song as it touches on a  personal loss for the singer. Another fairly short track Spark comes just before title track A Hurricane, A Thunderstorm, the chorus of which tells it how it is, 'Something will interfere with plans that you've made.' Annoying, but true!

You Said You Were a Broken Person is another slow, acoustic song, whilst Wrench of My Hand bursts open with the familiar sound of the accordion that is always at the forefront of the music. The album closes just as gently as it opened with Paper Year, rounding off a brilliant album with excellent melodies and evocative lyrics. You know what they say: If you want something done right, then do it yourself!

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