It seems Sheffield is the place to be these days. Apart from Alex Turner and his crew, we have The Long Blondes and Little Man Tate making a lot of waves with the indie-loving faithful. Pity poor Milburn though. These youngsters are former Sunday football mates of the Arctic Monkeys, and they face the biggest challenge of all trying to step out from the long shadow cast by that band’s extraordinary debut.
Milburn’s sound is so similar to the Monkeys’ it’s inevitable that many will write them off as mere wannabees. This would be a great shame however, because these boys are a lot more than simple cut ‘n’ paste copyists. Of course the post-punk basslines are present and correct, as are the wry colloquial lyrics about friends, girls and enemies, but they’re delivered with such exhilaration and self-belief that it’s nearly impossible to resent them for being similar in tone to anyone.
On ‘Showroom’ the band deliver a corsucating put down to poseurs and fakes (“And it makes me laugh, he’s trying so hard to deceive/Acting cool and cocky when there’s clearly something up your sleeve”), while ‘What About Next Time’ is a heartfelt plea to a wayward friend and contains the great couplet “When you want you know you can be as good as gold/But try telling that to the bloke whose phone you’ve just stole”. There’s also a keen pop sensibility at play here with ‘Chesire Cat Smile’ displaying a melody that suggests Milburn will be around for a long time after a lot of the current crop of guitar ‘n’ haircut bands have faded away.