Wasted On Youth - The Molotovs Album Review

Words: Tom Gensler

Photography: Izzi Glover

The Molotovs are one of the UK’s hottest acts right now, strongly noted and tipped off

by a lot of big industry names for their commitment to revivalist indie rock, and a clear love

of performing and writing music for the live setting. Sound-wise, they take a lot of cues

from the mod genre, and in terms of looks, they very much draw from the mod fashion

space, with the look and feel of the band being a very large part of who they are, and it

really works. They already look like icons. They sound like rockstars who have been

around for ages, and honestly, if you just listened to any of their music you would think

them much older than they are. The core duo of siblings, Matthew and Issey Cartlidge, are

only in their teens, yet their music sounds so mature and honed and lovingly aged, it's a

real testament to their songwriting abilities and clear love of the mod genre they operate

within. The band have made a big name for themselves through a combination of social

media and live shows, with the act’s breakthrough being through guerilla live shows

throughout London, just playing their songs and covers to the open world. This approach

has hugely worked for them as they’ve now built a loyal audience who absolutely love

everything they do, allowing them to do big things like embarking on a huge UK headline

tour, where I caught them at Rescue Rooms in Nottingham (read here). All of this has created a big excitement for their debut album.

A massive element that works in the band’s favour is the actual production of the

album. The songs all feel like they're played in a room, reinforcing their commitment to the

life setting, yet when the choruses hit, the noise completely fills the void and is resounding

and powerful. This production really serves the tracks well, and really allows for them to

showcase what they do best in the best way.

When you hear or see The Molotovs, they echo The Jam, and some of the songs on

here do feel like unreleased Jam songs, in the best way possible, and that’s sort of the

bands trademark and definitely a factor in their recent successes, but something that did

catch me slightly off-guard when listening is that some of the songs also have their own

thing going on, a mix between art-rock and modern indie, and that’s where the

band really shine across the eleven tracks. This vibe can be heard on Get A Life,

Daydreaming, More More More and Popstar mainly, where there’s a punky, artpop,

Blondie-esque intro followed by a pumping postmodern verse leading into a busy and

pounding chorus, very fashionable and very fun. This track really stands out to me,

showing a nice variety to the band’s style, and a nice allusion to the artpop styles that I

believe they draw off, fashion-wise.

Daydreaming is an absolutely incredible song that almost reaches Oasis-y britpop

vibes, due to things like dissonant chords at the ends of chord progressions and high

shining background parts, as well as slightly angular guitar rhythm at times, but in addition

to all this, it's lyrically potent and really rings out. There’s chiming guitar parts, sharp and

angular pronounced vocals, and all of this just fuses to makes something that’s both easy

to listen to and extremely fun. The Molotovs really tap into some fun spaces with these

songs, despite their arguably serious look and presentation.

Another big highlight of the album is Newsflash, which again has these striking vocals

with bright, chiming guitars, but it's the chorus harmony and chord progression that really

grab me. This represents the best side of the band, the side that like driving guitars

and pushing things into a deeper, more resounding sonic space. It's the point like this,

these heavier points, that make the album that much more special.

Now, a slight negative about the album is the selection of tracks on it. With the band’s

single releases, there were extra tracks, that the band play live, but these are not live

versions, or at least not labelled as such (the evidence for this is the More More More

digital single release has a live version attached with a label as well as a cover of

Suffragette City, also labelled live), and so it doesn’t really make sense that they aren’t

included. This really wouldn’t be a problem if these songs weren’t so good, namely

Johnny, Don’t Be Scared, which accompanies Rhythm Of Yourself, on the digital release.

Honestly, it's my favourite of their songs and easily one of their best, so releasing it into the

wild just to not include in on a debut album, which has a big physical release, is slightly

confusing. The same goes for No Time To Talk. They could be doing a deluxe or expanded

edition later down the line including these, but it does feel like a bit of a loss not having

them on here. Additionally, I have searched and cannot find any different variants of the

album and so as far as I can tell, despite these being part of the album cycle and lead up

to the release, they are not included at all.

If you're one of those people who likes an album with a big narrative and complex,

thought-provoking ideas, this isn’t for you, but this is not a bad thing about the album at all.

In fact, I see it as a positive. The Molotovs are a very young band, and a debut album is a

massive event for them. What they’ve done here is they’ve taken what they do so well live,

(i.e. what’s made them so successful so far) and translated it into a body of work with

excellent production, powerful songs and beautiful songwriting. They’ve focused on this

instead of trying to build a world and be over arty and over complex and I admire them for

that; they’ve really stuck with what they do so well on here and that makes the album such

a good listen. If this is only the beginning of their recording career, then I have very very

high hopes for what’s next. This is a truly brilliant listen from some young, promising

minds.

Overall, this is a really endearing and truly enjoyable listen from start to finish. Indie

rock has never been so back. Mod style has never been so back. The Molotovs are

promoting a really positive culture of live music and performance but they do not slack at

all or pull any punches whatsoever with their recorded stuff. I really recommend this,

especially for anyone who wants an old, lived-in sounding modern album. I suspect these

guys are only just getting started and I’m very expected to hear what’s next.