The Maccabees : Given To The Wild

Given To The Wild is the third album by inventive English five-piece band The Maccabees, who are enjoying the heady delights of receiving that rarest of treats: popular success mingled with critical caresses. This atmospheric thirteen-track opus stormed into the Number Four spot on the Official UK Album Chart upon its first week of release and has been praised heartedly by English music magazine the NME while the band appears to be popping up all across the Brit media landscape.

It only takes one listen to realise just how deserved this flurry of positivity is as The Maccabees have forged an expansive sound that is almost cinematic in scope yet retains a touching indie pop edge. This is music that will fit as comfortably into an arena as it will in your darkened bedroom. The songs can be enjoyed as the soundtrack to solitary nocturnal musings or as the sparkling backdrop to a collective festival-going experience. The up-tempo and transcendent Pelican will make you feel as if you are flying gently into the stratosphere while Go is a mini-epic full of unexpected time changes, shiver-down-the-spine vocal harmonies, beautiful instrumentation, spooky sound effects and the type of drama normally associated with Pink Floyd at their  best.

With the impressive Given To The Wild The Maccabees have revealed themselves to be serious contenders ably equipped to play in the same sand pit as crossover titans such as Coldplay.

BY GRAHAM BLACKLEY

Best Track: Pelican

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In A Word: Atmospheric