Rocker (feedbot)
Platinum Member
There’s a particular kind of dread that comes with a long-awaited comeback. You want it to be good. You need it to be good. And the longer the absence, the higher the stakes. Marmozets have been away for eight years; long enough for an entire generation of festival-goers to know them only by reputation. Long enough for the word “legendary” to start getting thrown around a little too casually. Long enough, frankly, for the pressure to become almost unfair.
Pressure? Pressure is for tyres! ‘CO.WAR.DICE.’ doesn’t buckle under it. It doesn’t even acknowledge it. It just gets on with being an excellent record. What’s immediately striking is how little the band seem interested in playing it safe. A lesser comeback would have chased the energy of ‘Move, Shake, Hide’ and called it a day. Instead, Marmozets have arrived as a leaner, stranger version of themselves. Four people rather than five, drawing from a weirder, wider pool of influence. There’s DNA here from post-punk’s jagged early days, from the jerky, irreverent spirit of Devo, to the swaggering weirdness of The Cramps. There are several moments on this record where Becca MacIntyre’s vocal has a dreamy, almost Siouxsie-esque quality. Their sound has evolved, but not so much that it’s not quintessentially Marmozets.
A voice so distinctive and instantly recognisable is like being born with a third nipple. You either have it, or you don’t, and MacIntyre has it. Opener ‘A Kiss From A Mother’ wastes absolutely no time making that case. It’s tight, urgent, and sets the tone for an album that refuses to let you drift through its 11 tracks. ‘Cut Back’ is a force of nature. Relentless and immediate, it’s the kind of song that burns itself into your brain on that first listen and doesn’t look like it’s going to leave any time soon. ‘New York’ crackles with excited, spontaneous energy, capturing the feeling of a band rediscovering the joy of simply playing together in a room. It’s loose and alive in ways that expensive production often inadvertently kills.
‘You Want The Truth’ is perhaps the album’s most direct moment – the title alone tells you what you’re getting, and Becca delivers it with a confrontational clarity that feels both thrilling and galvanising. ‘Swear I’m Alive’ and ‘Running With The Sun In Your Eyes’ keep the momentum rolling in the album’s midsection, the latter swinging with a groove reminiscent of the early 2000s that sits in completely unexpected but brilliant territory. Even the more restrained moments pull their weight; ‘Mes Désirs’ adds texture and breathing space, while ‘Like Last Night’ has an almost nostalgic warmth to it that catches you off guard.
The album earns its ambitions in its quietest moments too. ‘Dandy’ strips everything back to something fragile and exposed, demonstrating a confidence that now extends beyond volume. Closer ‘Keep Going Darling’ is a slow-burn builder that takes its time before arriving somewhere moving – loops layering and shifting beneath MacIntyre’s vocal until the whole thing feels like it’s about to lift off. It’s a perfect closer in that it recontextualises everything before it.
Thematically, the record is unafraid to look outward. War, cowardice, the paralysis of watching a fractured world and wondering what one band from Yorkshire can actually do about any of it. The title itself, ‘CO.WAR.DICE.’, ties all of that into one anxious, playful knot. But the album never tips into despair. Its conclusion, and its whole emotional architecture, is stubbornly hopeful. That’s harder to pull off than fury, yet Marmozets do it with ease. It was a long wait but this comeback has more than made up for it.
KATHRYN EDWARDS
Pressure? Pressure is for tyres! ‘CO.WAR.DICE.’ doesn’t buckle under it. It doesn’t even acknowledge it. It just gets on with being an excellent record. What’s immediately striking is how little the band seem interested in playing it safe. A lesser comeback would have chased the energy of ‘Move, Shake, Hide’ and called it a day. Instead, Marmozets have arrived as a leaner, stranger version of themselves. Four people rather than five, drawing from a weirder, wider pool of influence. There’s DNA here from post-punk’s jagged early days, from the jerky, irreverent spirit of Devo, to the swaggering weirdness of The Cramps. There are several moments on this record where Becca MacIntyre’s vocal has a dreamy, almost Siouxsie-esque quality. Their sound has evolved, but not so much that it’s not quintessentially Marmozets.
A voice so distinctive and instantly recognisable is like being born with a third nipple. You either have it, or you don’t, and MacIntyre has it. Opener ‘A Kiss From A Mother’ wastes absolutely no time making that case. It’s tight, urgent, and sets the tone for an album that refuses to let you drift through its 11 tracks. ‘Cut Back’ is a force of nature. Relentless and immediate, it’s the kind of song that burns itself into your brain on that first listen and doesn’t look like it’s going to leave any time soon. ‘New York’ crackles with excited, spontaneous energy, capturing the feeling of a band rediscovering the joy of simply playing together in a room. It’s loose and alive in ways that expensive production often inadvertently kills.
‘You Want The Truth’ is perhaps the album’s most direct moment – the title alone tells you what you’re getting, and Becca delivers it with a confrontational clarity that feels both thrilling and galvanising. ‘Swear I’m Alive’ and ‘Running With The Sun In Your Eyes’ keep the momentum rolling in the album’s midsection, the latter swinging with a groove reminiscent of the early 2000s that sits in completely unexpected but brilliant territory. Even the more restrained moments pull their weight; ‘Mes Désirs’ adds texture and breathing space, while ‘Like Last Night’ has an almost nostalgic warmth to it that catches you off guard.
The album earns its ambitions in its quietest moments too. ‘Dandy’ strips everything back to something fragile and exposed, demonstrating a confidence that now extends beyond volume. Closer ‘Keep Going Darling’ is a slow-burn builder that takes its time before arriving somewhere moving – loops layering and shifting beneath MacIntyre’s vocal until the whole thing feels like it’s about to lift off. It’s a perfect closer in that it recontextualises everything before it.
Thematically, the record is unafraid to look outward. War, cowardice, the paralysis of watching a fractured world and wondering what one band from Yorkshire can actually do about any of it. The title itself, ‘CO.WAR.DICE.’, ties all of that into one anxious, playful knot. But the album never tips into despair. Its conclusion, and its whole emotional architecture, is stubbornly hopeful. That’s harder to pull off than fury, yet Marmozets do it with ease. It was a long wait but this comeback has more than made up for it.
KATHRYN EDWARDS