ALBUM REVIEW: Onlooker – Cleveland (Serial Bowl Records)
I first came across Teesside band Onlooker back in 2020, when I received their Split EP with Tyneside band Ballpeen (reviewed here).
Since then I’ve seen them live for the first time and bought their debut album, 2022’s Total Rest, released, like this follow-up, by Sunderland’s Serial Bowl Records (home to the likes of Slalom D, Diaz Brothers and Dealing With Damage).
The debut was an enjoyable slice of raw garage-punk, which got rave reviews and enhanced their growing reputation, but after its release they changed direction quite drastically.
After beginning to make the follow-up at a residential studio in Scotland, they decided to scrap what they’d done, bring in a vocalist and re-write and re-record the new album with a fresh vision for the band.
Gradually re-doing everything themselves, in studios, lockups and houses, they emerged a little later than expected with Cleveland, named after their now non-existent home county.
It seems to be the ‘in’ thing nowadays for albums to have a theme, but Cleveland bucks that trend. Its songs are about anxiety and sadness, joy and triumph, protesting and the importance of a decent cup of tea.
Over the course of 11 tracks the band show how they’ve grown, with the likes of Gang Of Four and Wire influencing them as much as Fugazi and Black Flag.
Their sound includes elements of garage rock, post-punk and hardcore, which means they’re hard to pigeonhole, but it remains rooted in punk, and is an absorbing listen.
Onlooker’s twin guitar attack and propulsive rhythm section means they’re a powerful proposition, but what’s transformed them most is the addition of Will Rayment, who’s taken over vocals from bassist Kevin Ridden.
His delivery varies from almost spoken word to feral howls, and the music remains just as urgent, with more twists and turns than your average Grand Prix circuit.
Formula Tofu, powered by scuzzy guitars and a throbbing bassline, sounds like The Hives and gets things off to a pacey start, and Sit Tight – all short, sharp riffs – maintains the pace. What better next than a nice Cuppa Tea? What indeed?
There’s shades of DIY indie-rockers Art Brut here, and I can see the chorus “all I need is a cuppa tea, to pour me out of my misery” making this a live favourite.
Wonderfully off-kilter riffs punctuate Peaceful Protest, while Wishing Wellaye produces Rayment’s first slightly unhinged vocal performance of the record – but not the last.
Carpool and the jagged Disco Biscuits pave the way for Better Get Better, whose thrashing guitars raise the tempo in a manner reminiscent of Dischord bands of the ’80s and early ’90s.
After the ineffectual Hook-a-duck, it’s foot down into the final straight with the epic Suburban Dreams, all six minutes-plus of it, but Onlooker save the best ’til last with Status Quo.
It’s slow, sludgy and repetitive and Rayment puts everything he’s got into his vocals, sounding utterly spent by the end as he asks, again and again, “will I make it through?”. A magnificent ending to an album full of delights. 8/10.
- Cleveland by Onlooker is available digitally and on CD and various colours of 12in vinyl from Serial Bowl Records’ Bandcamp page HERE.
