The Maccabees - Feel To Follow

I’ll confess – I used to not like the Maccabees. Back in the day, they seemed - to a younger, more naive version of myself – to represent everything I hated about the ‘indie’ scene. But fast-forward a few years and they’ve turned out one of the best albums of 2012 so far. What’s changed? Well, to start with, Given To The Wild felt like a massive evolution of their sound, a real pushing of the envelope from a group bringing real ideas to the table, backed by the talent to make those ideas manifest themselves.

And so to Feel To Follow, which acts as a stunning summary of all the album’s best moments. Euphoric, melancholy, but with a streak of uplifting beauty at its heart, the track takes Orlando Weeks’ crooning vocals and wraps them in a cloak of shimmering wonder. Those deep, resonant piano chords ringing out over the slow hum of strings, dissolving away into a sea of twinkling, reverb-laden guitar. It’s music of the stars, the grass, the frost on cold mornings – all of nature’s wildness and awe given voice.

Feel To Follow is released on the 19^th March.