‘An Egotistical Observational Punch Of A Debut’ Welly: Big In The Suburbs

ALBUM REVIEW | WELLY – BIG IN THE SUBURBS by Gracie Erskine

‘Welly’: rubber boots, meat in pastry or a kid named Elliot and 4 other self-reflexive, Britpop blinded fans who can’t work out if they love or hate the UK. ‘Big In The Suburbs’ is the debut album by the Southampton natives, their name glued to mouths of new-music fans even more so than the colloquial idioms the quintet string together their tracks with. 

The title track introduces itself in a polite quintessentially British fashion with an RP snippet– ‘now for a moment of light entertainment’. An effective introduction to an extensive excursion of a British soap opera of your local choosing. The first bite into the Welly burger faces the listener with a Matrix style decision in whether to adopt the frighteningly normal escapade or disregard it as a cheap tune that sounds like The Inbetweeners formed a band.  We proceed to listen. 

‘Home For The Weekend’ continues to utilise media ad-libs with a parodic overcast of a train announcement nailing the mockery of modern-day Britain. It’s paired with racing guitars, sing-along hooks and synthing student sounding whizzes. The bands incorporation of these niche British pop culture cuts, really fulfils to the desired effect. Answer phone messages, train announcements and RP entertainment welcoming’s scratch the cultural itch.

Witty Welly continues to stab at various victims of everyday life, your local district dickheads are next on the list in ‘Knock and Run’. ‘Here come the rural reservoir dogs’ glues itself to a roaring bass and stomping clunk, it’s humorously accurate. Dare to nitpick and take the light from the situation of a song about a children’s street game, can at times feel a mockery to the working class and it’s ‘chavs’. ‘Cleaning streets with their eyelashes,and ‘the boys from the bottom set’ feel a misdemeanour to ordinary people simply because it doesn’t suit the artsy-fartsy couture of Welly. However, before continuing on the moral high ground, Welly must be accredited of their self-awaruite of the issue, even if it is within their merch. An ‘I’m not like other girls, I listen to Welly’ t shirt, certifies even the band are aware of their pop culture top trumps. A culturally pompous view on ‘normal life’ or a character assumed to induce some vibrancy and humour into our slate-grey and bleak current setting. The latter proves more skilful for the 5 piece, their lead single ‘Shopping’ epitomises mundane caricature of the high street. Its beckoning nature hosts rugged bass and twanging guitars, with humorous and vocally playful, karaoke inviting lyrics with a sliding hook for its consumer conscious audience to mosh into. 

On the contrary, mocking those of the upper classes seems more than acceptable. ‘Soak Up The Culture’, mimics the image-envy tourist lifestyle of everyone’s favourite gap-year guru. 

‘Do you know the way to Bergheim, My name’s Holly I’m from Crawley and I’m looking for the good wine’ is a joculous jab that makes you question the integrity of your Instagram photo of a gyros you had in Corfu three summers ago.

The debut effort builds quite a meta verisimilitude in the fictional feel of the album which is ironic considering its candid objectivities. There are easy comparisons to make draw the band to Britpop influences. The entire 14 tracks feels like taking Country House (Blur), making an evidence board and pinning red string to random towns and fictitious faces that we know all too well. Yet whilst rummaging around the 90’s CD drawer, Welly dials down the Damon Albarn in ‘Pampas Grass’ and skyrockets the Pulp. Its tingling beginning erupting into a rough and ready stomp with winding guitars, likens itself to the Sheffield bands 1997 track ‘Like A Friend’.

Towards the end of the album, it feels as though it’s said what it needed to say. The jangling guitars and budget-friendly sound aid the word-building naturality of the album. Despite it sounding like someone went ham at the bargain bin in the cowbell shop at times, its purity, factuality and ability to scintillate such magnolia monotony must be applauded. A couple of songs less and the album could’ve accrued the same effect, in a fun-size bite at everyday life. 

Ultimately, ‘Big In The Suburbs’ does what it says on the tin- it’s an explorative juxtaposing drive into the love/hate relationship of the current UK state and its effect on the suburbs. But the tin is also honest and its cool and it’s fun, which is refreshing. Whilst hesitant to use to ‘give it some welly’ joke, it is deserving for such an egotistical observational punch of a debut, that brings a kick back into the scene. 

Welly embarks on their ‘Seaside Tour’ in April, clambering the coast for a good time, tickets can be bought here: https://welly.os.fan/

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