Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Manchester’s The Falling have had seemingly the time of their life recently, certainly in the outpouring of great and catchy lyrical masterpieces, and in that regard the immediate future seems to be heading very much on the same trajectory as the band’s latest single, Cream (Get On Top) leaves its indelible and grin worthy mark on the listener.

There is humour to be found in the everyday and yet so few bands and artists allow themselves to be taken down a road that might detract from a persona of cool and affluent unflappability, it is a sorry state of affairs that whilst life is serious, whilst existence is to be explored and hopefully put right, that the disarming nature of the euphemism cannot be employed and allow, even in a catchy song, to flourish without impediment.

Cream (Get On Top) is The Falling at their most breezy, unruffled and nonchalant best, a sweet removal from the anger which is displayed with brutal brilliance and aimed at those not deserving of time, effort or indeed possessing a heart or conscious, and instead allows the listener to see a softer side, a playful side that invokes the spirit of danger with arguably a more radical heart than people ever realise.

The radical never fails to find an opening in which to poke at, never disappoints in taking one for the team if it means that the music comes out as King and the lyrical juggler finds a way to be brutal and yet truthful at the same time; it is not born out of malice or petty cruelty, it is shaped by an intolerance for those who abuse the entrusted power; the radical knows this and writes music accordingly, sometimes that music is so overwhelmingly steeped in humour that it rises, like any cream, to the top.

A wonderful single by The Falling, not so much tomfoolery but precise cuts with a witty blade; if only there were more bands willing to take the plunge in such ways, the corrupt and evil might start acting more wisely.

Ian D. Hall