Morrissey & Marshall – We Rise

Relax, this isn’t a review of anything by the worlds most annoying musician – the vegan Morrissey of The Smiths fame.  It’s also nothing to do with Marshall amplification, it is in fact a duo – Darren Morrissey and Greg Marshall.  Once I realised it wasn’t anything to do with the annoying Morrissey (he’s probably too busy telling everyone to be vegan to release anything), I hit play and gave the album a listen, then listened to it again and again.  The first thing to say is that this is a great album that begs to be listened to repeatedly.

How to describe them?  That’s a tricky one – lots of little bits remind me of various different bands ranging from The Kinks to Oasis to Blur to The Beatles and many more, but the overall result doesn’t sound like any of them.  It’s rock but with some of the catchiness of pop, and great vocal harmonies.

The album kicks off with “Cold November sunrise”.  A quiet intro followed by a blast from the horns takes us into the main part of the song.  It’s got a 90s indie rock vibe to it but things like the backing vocals on the chorus stop it fitting too neatly into that category.  Like everything on this album there are various influences at work.

“Love and be loved” is one of the softer rock songs on the album – check out the video here..

After 8 rock songs, “I need you” is a piano led song, an elegy for one of Darren Morrissey’s friends who died in his mid 20s.  It’s a beautful song and very clearly very personal – you can really hear the emotion in his voice as he sings.

The album ends with a soft acoustic song, “The light breaks”.  It’s simple but beautiful.

It’s a great album that doesnt fit into a simple genre pigeonhole, and is all the better for that.  The range of influences mean it’s got so much depth and the finished album is a real pleasure to listen to.  The final couple of songs show they’re at home doing soft simple songs as they are doing louder rock songs.  Highly recommended.

“We Rise” will be relased on 26th May 2017 through DJA records

Track listing:

1. Cold November Sunrise
2. Love & be loved
3. Play on
4. Hangin’ around
5. She’s got love
6. Stand down
7. Beautiful world
8. We’re the greatest
9. I need you
10. The light breaks