The Chapman Family - Cruel Brittania
- Written by Alex Ward
After their successful debut album Burn Your Town, The Chapman Family are back. This EP of five songs includes new material to wet our taste buds for more hard-hitting music from the Stockton on Tees band. With most EPs the starting track is rather dull and mediocre, but not in the case of Cruel Britannia. 'No More Tears' is a great song with eerie backing guitar similar to 'This Charming Man' by The Smiths. As politically themed songs go, this packs a punch with great sing along parts such as the ending where they chant “No more lies, No more fear, No more hate, No More tears”, mark my words, you’ll see that on protest banners going down Whitehall.
If an EP had to be more perfectly themed for release around the Jubilee it still wouldn’t beat Cruel Britannia. The self titled song, with its rhythmic drumming below Kingsley Chapman’s vocals about our country's obsession with The Royal Family. However, it’s not one of the strongest tracks on the whole EP in my opinion. Protest songs are part of our culture and The Chapman Family have made that very clear, even putting on their youtube channel: “We are determined to finally wake people out of their bland middle-of-the-road Cameron and Brit School endorsed cultural coma and if it means driving some people mad as hell in the process then so be it” - god bless them.
One of my favorite tracks from the EP is 'Summer Song'. Uncannily similar to 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' by Joy Division, its romantic festival feel for me would be great to jump up and down to at Glastonbury or Reading with a cup of cider, but what really grabs you is the ending riff from Pop Chapman - the real icing on the cake. Their video for the song is not for the faint hearted as Kingsley tries to suffocate himself with plastic bags.
From the first listen of this EP everything is perfectly spread out. The most beautifully arranged song has to be closing Morrissey cover, 'Everyday Is Like Sunday'. The piano and organ on this track complement each other perfectly. My suggestion (even if it seems a bit silly) is to close your eyes and listen to it. Releasing this EP so soon after their debut, The Chapman Family are making a name for themselves and I can’t wait to hear more from them.