Milburn are a curious band who appeared to have reformed at the perfect time. Always in the shadows of the Arctic Monkeys (of whom they used to share members), their fellow Sheffield group have gone onto become one of the world’s biggest bands, whilst they petered out into obscurity.

However, since reforming last year, they’ve returned to play a number of high profile shows in Sheffield and a subsequent sold out UK tour. Those comeback gigs served to wet the appetite not only of the fans but the band themselves, who had no doubt about taking on a 12,000 capacity home town show at Don Valley Bowl in June this year.

With a lack of high quality indie bands in today’s musical landscape, the four-piece seem to have found a gap in the market and are surprisingly now a much bigger group than when they split up. Whilst their peers are destined for Tuesday night indie clubs, Milburn are as relevant as ever and have made a record to back this up.

Recorded and produced by Bill Ryder-Jones at Parr Street Studios and released via the band’s own label, Count to 10 Records, the album is packed full of highlights, with each track telling its own unique story in the Milburn tale.

“We were only 17/I was waiting for the right time/I never dreamt it would be so hard/If only I knew what I know now,” sings Joe Carnall on opener ‘Time’, which might be reminiscing about their former song ‘17’ in what is an album full of nostalgia. This is a mellow, cinematic opening to the album before it shifts into gear for the more familiar sounding ‘Midnight Control’ and its sing-along-chorus.

‘Nothing For You’, meanwhile, is led by a bouncy bassline and cutting guitars, whilst ‘Take Me Home’ possesses a rough ambience. The heavy guitars of ‘Keep Me in Mind’ then manage to break up fillers such as ‘Medicine’ and ‘All the Love & Hate’, before the stripped back ‘Together Alone’ brings a change of pace. Album closer ‘05:40’ then has a climatic start before taking a Is This It? direction to cap off the record.

It finalises an LP in which the band have played it safe, whilst still showing glimpses of what could be to come. Whilst some may say it’s too cautious and almost generic, fans of the band will be more than happy, with 12 new anthems to sink their teeth into. However, it’s unlikely to expand their audience into new territories.

Paul Hill

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