Jagwar Ma: Howlin

On first listen, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Jarwar Ma are in thrall to the halcyon days of Madchester: there are unmissable links to the golden age of baggy. Delve deeper, however, and there’s more to enjoy on this pulsating debut than, ahem, aping Ian Brown.
For most of us, the first we heard from Aussie duo Jono Ma and Gabriel Winterfield was last year’s ‘The Throw’, six minutes and 45 seconds of mid-paced infectious beats and hypnotic vocals that slowly wormed their way into the collective unconscious until there we were, bobbing along, or gurning like 1990-era Bez
That single is not Howlin’s only nod to Manchester’s finest. The short sharp shock of the guitar-driven ‘Let Her Go’ (no relation to the Passenger song of the same name) is equal parts REM’s ‘Superman’ and the Roses’ ‘She Bangs The Drum’, while ‘Did You Have To’ and ‘That Loneliness’ could be out-takes from the ‘Fool’s Gold’ sessions, and we mean that as a compliment. The latter, in particular, is surely a shimmery, summery single-in-waiting.
Elsewhere, things get a bit murkier, from the pulsating ‘What Love’ to the trippy ‘Uncertainty’, while the heavy house of ‘Four’ bristles with potential danger, as Jagwar Ma eschew their primary influences in favour of something a little darker (think Cut Copy meets Joy Division). ‘Come Save Me’ is all military drum tattoos overlaid with a super-bouncy melody, an addictive guitar line, a table-tapping tabla rhythm and an eastern-tinged chorus: what’s not to love?
It doesn’t always work, however. The pointless ‘Exercise’ meanders into mediocrity, ‘Man I Need’ is a bit Kasabian-lite and the closing ‘Backwards Berlin’ doesn’t have nearly enough going on to justify its almost six-minute existance. Still, as debuts go, this one brims with potential.

Key Track: 'That Loneliness'