Driven Serious – Look On These Works (Album Review)

In this day and age, we’re so used to content and works of art being pumped out in an instant. Think of videos that embrace the art of 5-hour beat breakdowns or constant releases relative to when they were sparked. However, there’s always another side to what may seem trendy, and that belongs to those who are intent on honing in on their craft for a while- well, maybe even 10 years in the making. Meet Driven Serious, a North-East punk folk outfit that is due to release an album called ‘Look On These Works’, being the culmination of 10 years of songwriting and creative passion.

This release follows up releases that were made almost a decade ago, such as the album ‘The Importance of Being Serious’ released in 2013 and the EP titled ‘Ballad of Bones’ that was released in 2016.

The history of this band goes back to 2011, but this album features a new lineup, with the longstanding singer-guitarist Rob jones and bassist/multi-instrumentalist Tim Packer… joined by the superb talents of Sinéad Florence Livingston on vocals, keys and guitar,
violinist Alistair McCubbin, cellist Caroline Hoile and drummer Mark
Burley.

The album was recorded by the band themselves in the Old Church, Sacriston, and was mixed by Newcastle musician and producer Martin Hoile and mastered in Nashville by Steve Corrao. It was funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign, having raised almost £2000 for mixing, mastering and album production.

The official launch date of the album is stated to be the 19th of November, with an event at The Globe, Newcastle, with the band performing the full album live for the first time, accompanied by special guest acts like Bubamara.

I’d definitely say this: one thing that truly sticks out in the album is the quality of the instrumentation, even if the arrangement is pretty predictable. Every instrument is accounted for and mastered quite well, making it where it’s hard to really find fault with this release. The songs on this album oscillate between a little bit of Siouxsie and the Banshee, indie rock, folk rock and traditional folk with crossgenre appeal. The vocalists have very opposing timbres, which make it quite interesting to hear when they’re together in a song.

There’s a bit of stylistic darkwave lodged within the album as well, with tracks like ‘Sinking Sand’ reminding me of Bauhaus in terms of the vocal delivery amidst the wonderfully sprawling, folksy and minor orchestral influence within the instrumentation. There is a bit of agedness within some of the production techniques and the chord structures used within this album, but I can tell that people who can appreciate this genre will definitely boost its indie appeal and I don’t think the aim of the album was meant to be futuristic. It does truly make up for its lack of innovation with the melodies, the improvs, the solos and the various strings of instrumentation (Think of tracks like Space).

One thing that does stick out is the potential for a lot of these songs to be ‘singable’ in a crowd, which definitely aligns with the main means of marketing this album will have in terms of its response to a live venue. As I’ve mentioned earlier, people who are used to this genre and have an appreciation for similar sounds would definitely treasure this.

In terms of the emotional tone of the album, these songs certainly go through a lot of emotional dimensions, being scary, confrontational, emotional, self-reflective, liberating and relatable at the same time. This complex web of emotions expressed sonically will definitely enrich your experience of listening to it, as the groove can only do so much.

I have to say, kudos to the violinist and the guitarists within the release. They did an excellent and wonderful job at interjecting motivic variation and a large amount of depth and dynamics to these songs. One point of critique I do have is how simple and predictable the drumming is. It’s good, quality drumming, but perhaps experimenting with different time signatures could truly elevate the quirks within this group. Otherwise, this is a decent act and frankly, a decent album.

SCORE/Good: ‘Look On These Works’ is a decent album that focuses on groove, motivic variation through instrumentation and the interesting fusion of emotional depth and tonality within these songs. It explores a myriad of personal and mythical themes throughout its duration, and is definitely cut out to be a cult classic.

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