Amazon.co.uk Review
Jerky, irreverent and quasi-intellectual – thanks to right place/right time positioning, a frontman with all the behavioural anti-style of a skinny David Brent and everyday themes that were all too easy to relate to, The Rakes quickly received plaudits by the bundle and a lot of shouting ensued about them being an indie The Streets, or similar. Of course they weren't as clever as that, nor were they as brash as Franz Ferdinand, as intense as Bloc Party, as literate as Maximo Park, as chaotic as The Libertines or as slick as Razorlight, meaning that when the hype settled they were little more than that stale taste in the back of your throat from last night.
The general turnaround on Ten New Messages is as unexpected then as it is gratifying, with the stunted punk instancy of old traded in for a complex mesh of tight rhythms, creeping criss-cross melodic patch-working and a more mature palette of influences all round. The band are on leaner form, no doubt, but it's the front of house work by Alan Donahue that's likely to pull in the silverware. His vocals themselves are more assured but it's the focussed narratives – tracking someone down in the immediate aftermath of the 7/7 bombings (the anxious, touching "When Tom Cruise Cries") and the racism that inevitably followed that day (the inspired, multi-protagonist "Suspicious Eyes") for instance – where he simmers tensions and tone with a skill that the frivolity of their debut just couldn't manage. Discard all old messages. Save new. --James Berry
CD Description
London based indie rockers The Rakes follow up their critically acclaimed 2005 debut 'Capture/Release.' Produced by JimAbiss (Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys) and Brendan Lynch (Paul Weller, Primal Scream), 'Ten New Messages' was recorded in London in late 2006 and boasts a cleaner sound and more refinedcontent than its predecessor, whilst retaining the band's trademark grit and intensity. Includes the single 'We Danced Together.'
