Nothing Feels Good: Crows Unpack The Exhilarating Gloom Of 'Another Reason'
Monday, 07 October 2024
Written by Tom Morgan
Photo: Sandra Ebert
For all the hype surrounding the UK post-punk revival that has partly defined the past decade, how much of it has tapped into the doom and gloom of so many of the genre’s greats? Witty lyrics and danceable grooves are all well and good, but the prevailing vibe in the country is pretty despondent right now, saddled with endless austerity, far-right violence and terrible weather that’s only getting worse. So, where’s the glum musical catharsis?
London’s Crows are facing up to this misery with a brand of gothic, sometimes-post, sometimes-straight-up punk that’s uniquely energising. Built on the tension between vocalist James Cox’s gloomy voice and lyrics and the band’s kinetic music, often it’s as though they’ve stared too long into the black and are now fleeing from its tendrils.
“The rest of the band had all these more upbeat, noughties indie band references in mind when writing this album, but for me I was going through a tough period and it was actually really depressing,” James explains.
The music he is referring to became Crows’ ‘Another Reason’. It’s a concise, 10 track banger, with no unnecessary fat. Across their third full length the London four-piece — completed by Steve Goddard (guitar), Jith Amarasinghe (bass) and Sam Lister (drums) — expand on their pared-down, urgent but emotionally-complex sound, finding new corners of this distinct aesthetic to explore.
In adroitly grim, somewhat-knowing fashion, the album was written in a former church in rural Gloucestershire. James says: “It was kind of done out of necessity. We all work full time, so if we’re trying to write on a Tuesday evening after work it’s not very productive.” However, beyond the locale’s functional nature, the band enjoyed the unique gothic environs. “It was mid-winter so it was bleak, church, bros: pretty on-brand,” James laughs.
Following the writing work at the church, the band recorded the album with noted producer Andy Savours (My Bloody Valentine, Black Country, New Road). Some “15 or 16” tracks were recorded and several were cut that were “maybe too much of a departure.” The band then focused on fitting the songs into an order that felt cohesive, a process James describes as particularly taxing.
“I think we had plans to go mad on production and add loads of synths,” he elaborates. “There’s definitely production stuff that sounds different to what we've done before, but I think we started with a grander view that we scaled down a bit.”
In regards to the tracks that didn’t make the final cut, James offers some tantalising prospects of future Crows material. “Two of them had lower tunings,” he says. “One was funky, with falsetto backing vocals. We might do an EP, but no one really gives a fuck about EPs so we’ll probably just save them for a the next album.”
A sense of cohesion and focus permeates ‘Reason Enough’. Along with the precise tracklisting, James attributes this feel to the album’s esteemed production credits. “Andy brought calm to the process,” he observes. “We loved the experience of making the last two records, but we wanted to change it up this time.”
He goes on to detail the process: “We’re very much a ‘do four takes and we’re done’ kind of band, but Andy likes to do 15, 20 takes. It was a shock to the system on the first day in the studio. But by doing that, he makes you play it like it’s a part of your fucking brain.”
This precision and clarity is vital to the tension that drives Crows’ music. The blood-pumping instrumentation and anxious, often socio-politically-minded nature of James’ lyrics are the key contrast. Across ‘Another Reason’, James’ commanding voice tackles late-capitalist existence on Bored, while Land Of The Rose eviscerates the myriad failings of the UK, a land free of compassion for which “there’s no fix, because there’s no solution.”
James is honest about his inspiration: “Like everyone, I have a mild phone addiction and it’s just this constant bombardment of shit.” This combination of anxiousness, helplessness and addiction is a feeling that many will resonate with.“Nothing’s great at the moment,” he sighs. “It’s a constant source of new material.”
He describes the album’s lyrics as a “pretty much a 50-50 split about what’s going on in the world and then stuff about quite an intense year of mental health issues that I went through.” It’s a visceral emotional combination. The personal and political blend fuses seamlessly, adding up to a troubled but human portrait of life in the world today.
“It’s weird talking about these songs,” James says, with regards to tracks like the intensely personal Vision Of Me. “Writing is this amazing, cathartic thing. But the problem is you have to keep talking about it and feeding it. It can be good though, you learn to dissociate from it a bit and it’s rewarding when people relate to it.”
James possesses an acute ability to peer into the darkness. Despite his friendly demeanour, his worldview and artistic aesthetic (from Crows’ lyrics to his work as a tattoo artist) is uber-gothic, painted in hues of black and white like the artwork that adorns each of his band’s album covers.
On the origin of this outlook, James elaborates: “Everything I’ve liked or enjoyed has always been pretty dark.” He goes on to cite literary figures such as Cormac McCarthy as influences, inspired by his father Peter Cox; a playwright who also wrote over 200 episodes of TV soap Brookside. “He’s a drama guy,” James continues. “So he taught me to find the beauty in negative stuff.”
That neatly sums up Crows and their stellar new album. With their latest UK and Ireland tour underway, the anxious energy of its songs will chime with anyone struggling to process the doomy nature of life in 2024, emulating a sensation many will have experienced: the urge to run from the encroaching dark.
Crows’ ‘Reason Enough’ is out now through Bad Vibrations.
Crows Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Wed October 09 2024 - BRIGHTON DUST
Thu October 10 2024 - MANCHESTER Deaf Institute
Fri October 11 2024 - GLASGOW King Tut’s
Sat October 12 2024 - DUBLIN Sound House
Mon October 14 2024 - NOTTINGHAM Rough Trade Nottingham
Tue October 15 2024 - LONDON Village Underground
Thu October 17 2024 - BRISTOL Exchange
Fri October 18 2024 - HEBDEN BRIDGE Trades Club
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