Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
We live thankfully in an age when being different is not only accepted, but it is celebrated as well. Culturally, aesthetically, outward looking, inward felling, to be diverse, to want to show your true self to the world is not only healthy but it is right. The rights of many have come a long way but perhaps arguably not far enough and as the songs of The Spook School’s third album heavily persuade, Could It Be Different, well we can all but hope that humanity steers itself in the right direction.
Acceptance is one thing, celebrating is another, even it means understanding that what you may have lived through before in one relationship is not what you are inside, that to take someone’s anger and own ignorance and turn it into a positive is the best thing you can do and makes the very act of compassion that much sweeter.
The Spook School make much of this in Could It Be Different, they play beautifully with ideal whilst always giving it an edge of the outrageous punk pop in which we all could find ourselves desiring; the ying and the yang of anger and the calm, the ability to make your voice heard in a song and not care about the choice of language used. To admit that some might find the idea of you appealing but when it comes down to the reality, they are like everybody else; these are the moments in which you are the star of your album and The Spook School’s foursome have it all flowing out in style.
In tracks such as the fierce stance of Still Alive, Best Intentions, Less Than Perfect, Bad Year, I Hope She Loves You and While You Were Sleeping, the songs have the ability to affirm, to show a conversation and a dialogue rather than finding the situation too complex to handle. The fluidity of being human, that life has been set down by and not given a true reflection till now of what gender and sexuality truly means; all is given credence by the members of the band and all is celebrated with intent to raise a smile and thought.
Could It Be Different, why would you want it to be when The Spook School have shown a great way to raise the profile and the flag.
The Spook School’s Could It Be Different is released on January 26th.
Ian D. Hall