2012 was a big year for Club Smith: following a tour supporting the Kaiser Chiefs, they released their debut album, which, in case you missed it, was cracking. 2013 has been rather quieter by comparison, and saw their drummer defect to aforementioned Leeds indie giants. This prompted the band to take stock and redefine their sound, calling in Dave Bascombe (Depeche Mode) and Lance Thomas (Ladytron) to rework ‘Beautiful & Useless’ and ‘The Green Room’ from the album ‘Appetite for Chivalry’. These are augmented by a brace of ‘live reworks’ of two further tracks from the album, early single track ‘Lament’ and ‘I Didn’t Want to Show You That I’d Lost Faith’.
Having shifted from being an overtly electro band to an electro-guitar crossover, the evidence here is that Club Smith are pushing back towards a more electro sound, although the ‘live’ tracks introduce a wealth of orchestration hitherto unheard in the their output.
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Serving as a timely reminder of the quality of songwriting on the album, the ‘Appetite for More Chivalry’ is brimming with hooks and nagging basslines and little details that prove Club Smith are anything but as anonymously bland as their name may suggest. It’ll certainly be interesting to see where they take all of this for album number two.
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