Brand Spanking New: Eureka Stockade Album Review

Eureka Stockade's album cover; rather more chilling than their music

Cambridge; famed for punting, quaint old buildings, and some very intellectual looking students wandering about the place.

Perhaps Cambridge-based indie-rock band Eureka Stockade will be added to the list. Band members Andy Brown, Rob Toulson, Nathan Jones and Paul Richards released their first self-titled album through Cracking Tunes Records on December 6.

Despite their fairly modest composition of, in their words, “four scruffy musicians, a couple of guitars and a rhythm section”, their music is a lot more polished.

Eureka Stockade; Andy, Rob, Nathan and Paul, the 'four scruffy musicians'

The album is a pleasant mix that crosses several genre boundaries; rock, folk, acoustic, with nods to some huge acts that no doubt bear a considerable influence on the band’s work. For instance, tracks All Alone and Heroes Fall has some great vocal work that has echoes of R.E.M‘s Michael Stipe, whereas Violence is much more punchy, as the title suggests, and is definitely reminiscent of Manic Street Preachers.

There is a good variation of tempo and atmosphere within the album, which features quieter moments; Without You is laid back and folky, and Sharks takes it down a gear further, with an evocative and raw combination of forlorn vocals with a gentle piano background, played by Kelly Lambert – just one of the guest performers to appear on the album.

It’s a strong first album that, granted, will probably not gain a cult indie following, or a Mercury Music Award as the tracks are clearly geared for the mainstream, but that’s where the money is, right?

Eureka Stockade’s album is available on Bandcamp.