Look up the word "Sirocco" in the dictionary and you'll get the common definition referring to the "oppressively hot and blighting wind blowing from the north coast of Africa."
However, look a little harder and you'll discover the French Arabian definition, meaning: "the rising of the sun". Certainly, this definition is apropos on this occasion, as "Sirocco" documents a band on the rise artistically; more than happy to show off their knack for classic Power Pop shapes laced with sweet, layered vocal melodies, but undercut with a prevalent air of menace.
Opener "Machine Gun Fire" gets us underway in no uncertain terms; flying out with rapid, scattershot riffing and excellent fire-breathing vocals from Danny Slack. Lyrically, the recurring theme of frustration establishes itself, with Slack roaring "It's nothing new!" at one point. The track itself is both bracing and memorable from the off.
In less skilful hands, such small-town angst themes would be de rigeur and boring, but in songs like the seething title track and the mighty "Nice Day", you're with THE HALCYON BAND all the way. This latter, especially, is superb, featuring slashing guitars and Moon-esque skin splattering from Tom Johnson, who's really straining at the leash here. The chorus is massively sarcastic, but infinitely melodic and will rattle around your mind for days.
Most of "Sirocco" was reorded in the band's home town of York, but three tunes were laid down at Vibra-phonic in Los Angeles and THE HALCYON BAND obviously responded to the sunkissed surroundings, as these tracks are all excellent, especially the single "Hold On" and the album's closer "Better Son." Stark and gently acoustic, the former is particularly reminiscent of BIG STAR circa "#1 Record", but not in any anachronistic way, while "Better Son" maintains the band's pretty, but disquieting stamp, coming over as almost a Red House Painters/ Crosby, Stills & Nash hybrid.
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Musically, THE HALCYON BAND are a top-notch unit. Johnson's ride cymbal-heavy clatter instantly stands out, while Slack and Dave Hunt proffer a surprisingly clean sound (with a few exceptions) which still stings in the six-string department and bassist Sam Forrest is surely the band's secret weapon. With a talent for both Bruce Thomas-style high-end runs and his characteristic, chromatic counterpoint stuff, he's ceaselessly inventive and - on something like the head-spinning elastic funk he brings to the fatalistic/ realistic (delete as applicable) "We're All Dying And We Want Our Freedom" - lures THE HALCYON BAND into unexpected sonic territories.
I'll grant you that THE HALCYON BAND's sound flows from the fountainhead of classic (Power) Pop and also that their harmony-inspired, twin guitar attack does owe a debt to certain US West Coast luminaries. However, it's abundantly clear that the retro-New York Punk comparisons that also crop up in reference to this lot are both erroneous and lazy, and, as "Sirocco" suggests, THE HALCYON BAND are a convincing, edgy quartet gazing at the bigger picture, whilst offering some of the best British harmonies since Badfinger bowed out.
Familiar, yes, but anything but contemptible, "Sirocco" is a more than satisfying re-invention of the guitar pop wheel. More, please.
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