The London indie rockers have their listeners to thank for funding the release of their debut album How To Make Time, with their dedicated fans pulling together to create enough money for the boys to go into the studio.
It’s a two-way street though, and those fans wouldn’t have done it if Gaolers Daughter were some run of the mill band, happy to regurgitate the same crap over and over, safe in the knowledge it would bring them success. Luckily for all parties, Gaolers Daughter are something special. Each track brings with it a different story, an aspect of diversity that certain musicians seem to have forgotten all about. Lead single Cordelia is an absolute beauty of a track, keeping with a slow and steady beat that is heavily influenced by guitar, which would be the one running theme throughout the album. The songs are written around an intricate and intelligent riff and the rest of the music just seems to fall effortlessly into perfect harmony, like a puzzle in a gravity free zone falling perfectly into place upon touching back down on earth.
They also have a canny knack of being able to explore different genres with a strum of a bass line. 3 Days Rain showcases this perfectly, with a melodic intro and harmonic verses suddenly erupting into a balls out rock n roll chorus that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Biffy Clyro record. It all then comes to a frantic finish, and before you know it the songs over. Follow up track Eternal Bliss follows on this spontaneous path, with lead singer and six stringer John Sterry crooning his clever, witty lyrics with backing music sounding far wise beyond the group’s young years. How Do You Know has an Arctic Monkeys feel about it, which can obviously never be a bad thing.
How To Make Time is an astonishing effort for a debut album. It is absolutely criminal to think this record might have never seen the light of day without the help of those who have fallen under their spell. To the fans, and indeed the members of Gaolers Daughter (the aforementioned Sterry, Alex Mahood on guitar, Alfie Ambrose on bass and Ben Hutchinson on drums), we salute you all.
They head out on tour supporting Babyshambles on a couple of their September dates in a couple of weeks. This isn’t the first time they’ve played with them either. If that’s not enough of a recommendation, then I don’t know what is wrong with you. They will be playing:
Sunday 15th – The Great Hall, Cardiff University
Monday 16th – LCR, UEA
How To Make Time is available to buy/listen to/steal now. You can listen to lead single Cordelia below.
