Review: The Royston Club - 'Songs for the Spine' Album

The Royston Club are an up-and-coming indie band, releasing their debut, ‘Shaking Hips and Crashing Cars’ to mild chart success in 2023. This new venture places them firmly in the category of ‘ones to watch’.

Although only 10 songs long, this album succeeds in following on from the first album sonically, whilst also allowing the band room to explore more experimental sounds and influences. The Royston Club could be argued to just be another of the many new bands of the British indie explosion of recent years, however this album showcases the broad influence and poetic lyricisms of the first album, but stronger and often more profound, setting this album and this band apart from others of this genre.

The album opens with a bold statement of intention - ‘Shivers’. Contrary to the fact that it shares a name with a song by Ed Sheeran, this song explores more complex ideas and sounds, straying more into an alternative rock sound, akin to that of Radiohead in fact. This song remains typical of The Royston Club regardless of these newer influences, with what seems to be a favourite technique (not that it’s a bad thing) with overlapping vocals in the outro. Another notable use of this technique is in their song ‘52’. In this, off ‘Songs for the Spine’, the lead singer Tom Faithfull continues to sing the lyrics of the chorus - ‘Put me in your palm and squeeze / Axe and shape my memory...’ - whilst Ben Matthias sings a calmer, mournful descant - ‘She sends shivers through the night / Shakes the stars / In twenty-thousand skies...’ This song starts the album strongly - showing listeners the whole idea of this album, a combination of newer influences and continued Royston Club techniques.

This song is immediately followed by the album’s lead single ‘The Patch Where Nothing Grows’. With a catchy riff and double unison vocals from Matthias and Faithfull, this song is quintessentially Royston Club. The riff calls back to similar, off their debut, namely in the songs ‘Shallow Tragedy’ and ‘I’m a Liar’, explaining easily why this song was chosen for the lead single - acting as a sort of bridge between the first and second album. This song, contrary to any others, was released over a year ago and originally thought to just be a one-off, considering the great length of time in between releases. This feeling, that it was made almost separately from the album itself, can be seen purely from the sounds of the guitars, however it maintains the sonic theme heard throughout the album, and throughout The Royston Club’s discography. 

The third song and first non-single, ‘Crowbar’, continues their catchy riff theme (of sorts). This song combines Royston Club sounds (the guitar riffs of Matthias, the desperation in the vocal melody of Faithfull) with more garage-y sounding drums (played by Sam Jones). The broad drum sounds feel more influenced by the garage rock of the 2000s than other songs off this album, with reverb-heavy cymbals and strong, consistent kick drum lines in the verses. This song peaks with the melodic drop-down bridge, featuring echoing guitar lines in a descending pattern, and beautiful falsetto melodies from Faithfull.

‘Glued to the Bed’ to me feels like the ‘52’ of the album - popular amongst fans, on the surface a high tempo song perfect for playing live, but if you dig deeper you notice the longing lyrics, the sad themes. With driving drums and a strong bassline (courtesy of the lovely Dave Tute) throughout the first verse, followed by the reentrance of the guitars for a second round, this song is incredibly beautiful and complex within itself. A highlight of the whole piece is Matthias’s harmonies in the verses, sung a third above Faithfull’s main melody, creating an underlying melancholy feeling, which juxtaposes against the fast, uptempo song. 

The fifth song and halfway through the album is where we see the arguable pinnacle of the album (some might say of their whole discography) - ‘Cariad’. Although outwardly only a breakup song, a staple of many artists discographies, this song sets itself apart from others in this category. Like ‘Glued to the Bed’, this song feels as if it had a counterpart on their debut, in ‘Cherophobe’. With a calm, acoustic beginning, this song builds and builds until everything crashes down in the bridge - ‘Oh but I still wake up with things to tell you / And I dream of you no matter who I’m sleeping next to / Good god I resent you for leaving / But I can’t pretend I don’t need you…’. This bridge feels incredibly cathartic for the protagonist of this song, as if he’s been holding in all these feelings and now he releases everything, all at once, only amplified by Faithfull’s aggressive, almost yelling delivery.

‘Cariad’ is a difficult song to follow up, but ‘30/20’ gives a right good go at it. Released a mere day before the rest of the album, ‘30/20’ had the potential to be an overlooked song, but its loud presence and staple on the setlist from before being released has turned that upside down. With a catchy chorus and intricate lyricisms, this is almost the cliche Royston Club song, embodying everything they’ve set out before. What is particularly interesting is the use of electric guitar in what would typically be the guitar solo, however in this song it simply reiterates the verse melody, and then continues in doubling the melodies for the rest of the song, creating a stronger sound towards the end of the song, before fully dropping out for the last bar, ending the song abruptly yet somehow it works perfectly.

‘Spinning’ continues the thematic material of ‘Cariad’, though somehow more gut-wrenching. What starts out as a beautiful, calm, acoustic song. Builds to a gorgeous climax where Faithfull’s falsetto is front and centre. Throughout, quiet slide-y guitar lines begin to build, with each other element slowly becoming more complicated and difficult, creating a polyphonic wall of sound, each entangling instrumental line as beautiful as the next. The apogee of the whole piece is the agonising lyrical content - notably ‘I love you / But you’re never here’, and ‘Too young to die but no fight left’, leaving the listener almost heartbroken for the protagonist.

As others on this album seemingly have counterparts on The Royston Club’s debut, ‘Through the Cracks’ feels like ‘The Deep End’ - a catchy chorus, confident major guitar lines, and carefully placed harmonies by Matthias to accentuate specific lyrics or moments within the structure (often at the end of the chorus). This song begins with interesting call-and-response guitar lines, more unusual for the band, however maintaining the catchy riff which seems to be a common denominator between nearly every song on this and the first album. The syncopated guitar chords throughout the verses emphasises the melody, with the bass later joining in with the guitar. This also helps to create space within the song, which is lacking from other songs on the album, potentially adding to an ever-growing list of different techniques used in this album.

‘Curses and Spit’ starts with cymbal-heavy drums and echoey guitar lines, beginning the feeling of the song almost immediately - which continues consistently until the end of the chorus. This song features more obvious melodies from Matthias - sung far softer than Faithfull’s melody creating a strong yet harmonious contrast. This song has been featured on their live setlist from before it was released, generating broad support for it and for the new album. This song shows a perfect insight into the album, with strong verses and choruses, but beautiful yet completely different lines at the end of the choruses - ‘But the doves will sing again / Come the morning, my friend’, with far fewer instruments and a calmer delivery from Faithfull.

‘The Ballad of Glen Campbell’ , the album closer and its longest song, calls back to a favourite cover of theirs - ‘Wichita Lineman’. Although totally different from the genre of Glen Campbell’s music, this song strays further from their indie roots. Calmer broken chordal accompaniment on the piano starts the song off, a complete 360 from any of their other ventures. This is then followed by a woeful chorus, with crying vocals from Faithfull. This then turns into a soaring extended bridge, and a final chorus with, once again the overlapping/intertwining vocal lines by Faithfull and Matthias only highlighted further by military-like drum rolls. The whole song and whole album is rounded off by a long monologue (similar to the monologic passages in the non-album track ‘Infatuated’). What’s especially interesting about this whole song it the hook - ‘I’m so smitten by you’ - in contrast to the melancholy atmosphere, the generally minor key (except for, funnily enough, when this lyric is sung), and the connotations associated with the word ‘Ballad’. This overlooked track is the masterpiece of the whole album, incredibly experimental and incredibly beautiful.

This album beats the trap that artists often fall into with their second album. It charted higher than their debut - breaching the top 10 for the first time, as well as achieving number 1 in a number of specialist charts. Their first album was one of the highlights of music in 2023, and this album maintains that, as a highlight of new music this year.

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Written by Chiara Suffield for Ceol Magazine!

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