(Elefant Traks)

A long way from the fish and chip shop

There’s a Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy song where Michael Franti laments that he can never seem to think about anything except music and politics. We can only hope The Herd continue having the same problem, because the heavy political content is what makes Summerland a great album; it’s six tracks in before there’s a song about anything else. If you’ve heard The King Is Dead getting belted on the radio you know where they’re coming from this time – unsettling anthems for a troubled world. There are songs from the point of view of a terror suspect, a ‘troublemaker’ student, an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian worker. That’s not all there is to it, though. Zug Zug is a catchy catalogue of their touring adventures with handclaps and guitars and A Few Things laments not having enough time in the day to get everything done. Jane Tyrrell slots into her full-time role in the group, singing most of the hooks, and there are some nice musical additions like Justin Tampake’s haunting violin on Pearl. All of the criticism their political approach could bring has been anticipated, confronted and defused in When You Escape (Music Vs Fashion), which admits that I’m not so tragic I think this music is our saviour. They’re clearly mad as hell and not going to take it anymore and the result is a breath of fresh air that’s undeniably a good thing for us.

****          

JODY MACGREGOR

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