Hope, Prayers And Bubblegum

Whoever thought that ambition was dead in music has obviously never come across Berkeley. Hailing from Donegal – about as far away from the supposed centre of the Irish music business as you can possibly get without being in Greenland – and residing on a small indie label has certainly proved no barrier. Not only was their debut album mastered at Abbey Road, it was recorded in Chicago with Steve Albini. All of which wouldn’t matter a jot if the album wasn’t up to much. As it happens, Hope, Prayers And Bubblegum is a beauty.

Unsurprisingly, difficult punk rock is the order of the day and in truth the band have more in common with the capital’s instrumental set than any of their more poppy contemporaries. The songs – after the rather faltering opener ‘New Heavy’ – are uniformly superb. The quiet/loud melodic path has been well trod in the past, but in these six hands it still sounds fresh, thrilling and genuinely exciting, as they move effortlessly from the bludgeoning riffs of ‘Follow Through’ to the more measured ‘All I Want’ and ‘Colour Me In’. In fact the one week link may just be Albini’s production. His presence may offer extra alternative kudos but it also denies the band the scope that they are so obviously capable of creating, as on the almost Radiohead like ‘I’m Losing You’.

Berkeley don’t need to back themselves into some sort of obscure indie corner. They might be a little too left field to be this year’s Gemma, Mundy or Frames but Hope, Prayers And Bubblegum should still be seen as one of 2003’s most important domestic releases.