I'll come clean. It wasn't a song on the radio, or a video link on social media. It was the name. I've since learnt it is a reference to a The Cure radio session where they changed the name to one of their songs to 'Desperate Journalist in Ongoing Meaningful Review Situation' in response to a scathing attack by journalist Paul Morley in a review of their debut album. I just thought it was a brilliant name. There is a chasm the size of the Grand Canyon between a writer and a journalist and an even bigger void between that and a desperate journalist, the kind you would more than likely find working for a tabloid. Or worse, a freelance that wants to work for a tabloid. There be a desperate journalist.
Of course, by nature of the fact it was a name of a band, you click on the link and watch the video or listen to the stream from Soundcloud. There was a part of me that thought they might be a one man dance act or MC. However I was pleasantly surprised.
What struck me immediately was the Marr-esque guitar. The unmistakable sound of a 12 string Rickenbacker. Then the vocal. Then how much singer, Jo Bevan, looks like writer and comedienne, Holly Walsh.
Finally, it was, someone needs to introduce this lot to Morrissey. With his penchant for strong female vocalists in the guise of Anna Calvi and Kristeen Young, who have been his most recent supporting acts, and the fact that they have perfected the ability to sound like The Smiths, whilst also sounding like The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order, but still being themselves.
The initial exposure was of non-album tracks, Organ, Mistakes and Kitten which are the sound of a band developing their sound. Finally, there was Cristina and Happening where the chemical reaction was complete, and these two are front and centre on their debut, self-titled album.
The biggest contrast between the early and album songs are the guitar sounds. Robert Hardy sounds far more confident in his ability and the hooks and riffs are prominent and take the lead in the song, where on the early efforts there is a reliance on distorted power chords, which only really appear when necessary and have the best impact, such as in the chorus to 'Heartbeats' where Jo's falsetto rises above the guitar with spectacular results. "I can't bear you heartbeats". Stunning.
Ultimately, this record is a knock-out. A broad canvas of sonic landscapes and intricate detail. From the opening notes of Control to the elongated climax to Heartbeats, the pace doesn't drop and the quality doesn't waver.
'Eulogy' encapsulates their name perfectly. "What would we do / without your vital view" bites at the very nature of our view of the journalist. The throng of shouting reporters with their Dictaphones thrust into the faces of the innocent, the guilty and the irrelevant, and when they fail to get their story, they say what they want anyway.
The overriding feeling with this record is somewhat desperate. In the lyrics written by Bevan, she talks of the anger of lost love or break up (Nothing and Remainder), the possibility of love (Hesitate) and the feeling of being lost (Cristina). The delivery is so full of the emotion and heartache of the lyrics which is only enhanced by the wall of sound behind her and its enchanting and it's breath-taking.
This is an irresistible album. Powerful and confident. It doesn't sound like a debut effort. The difference between the earlier songs and the 12 on the record demonstrates the progression and the work to create the Desperate Journalist sound.
If I was going to be pernickety, I would say that final song 'Cement' should probably have been swapped with 'Heartbeats' with its anthemic crescendo concluding the album perfectly. That isn't a slight on the song, maybe just it's placement.
This band don't just deserve recognition. It's essential that they get it. The derivative, radio friendly pop-rock that pollutes much of the Absolute and XFM playlists is dull and insipid. Two words you could never say about Desperate Journalist.
The debut album is out on Fierce Panda on Monday, although the Mp3 has been available since November. With all due respect to Fierce Panda, although this has always been their forte, giving new bands an opportunity (and long may it continue), this album needs a bigger label release and to be heard on car radios and Spotify.
In the mean time, buy it now.
To paraphrase the first lines of the album "I'm so happy that they're here / Just ecstatic that they're here.
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