Here I am posting for the first time about Birmingham quartet Five O Fives, and wondering why I haven't before. Something about this band's sound and energy had me totally hooked the first time I heard them, and they've firmly held my interest ever since.
Beginning with 'Through The Darkness' in November 2020, then with the slightly lighter 'Something To Do' in January this year, and most recently with the sophisticated reverbed guitar and restrained power of 'If You Won't Say It' in September, the band have steadily made their clear mark on the indie scene. They've been together only a couple of years, but their rise has been steady and consistent.
This latest release, 'Had To Do It', comes in pretty darned funky - the distorted lead electric guitar sounding almost trumpet-like, with some ghostly vocal murmurs in the background. The song quickly settles into a great groove, supported by characteristic snare and tom-focused drumming.
Alice Bloor's vocals are sounding on top form on this one (along with the rest of the band - in fact I'd say this release is the best yet). She launches in at the same time as the heavily overdriven bass, sounding confident and assertive, but at the same time slightly coy and subtly guarded. Perhaps this is a foreshadowing of the job she knows she's about to do - the message she's about to deliver.
"Settle down, stay a while, feeling blue, still in denial. You said I'm wrong, but I had to do it"
Then it's into full on rock release, guitars to the front, piles of cymbals - frustrations laid bare. You think you know the score, musically, by this point. And yet, not quite. Had To Do It is a really cleverly-written, forward-leaning song, but also one which includes lots of sit-up-and-take-notice moments. That's something I love in a song: the little twists and turns and rises and falls, those moments of musical surprise.
Those kinds of devices are particularly effective when they're used to make you feel the emotions of the story being sung, and that's what Five O Fives succeed in doing here. The song is all about endings: the pain of an inevitable break-up, and needing to cause hurt in order to find freedom. That's reflected in the way the chorus is built. It uses sudden stops in the guitars (while the drums roll on) to great effect - it's like a breath being drawn, or a kick under the table - a nudge out of complacency. "The time has come to let go"
Then there's the decidedly heavier bridge section featuring an almost continuous white sound of cymbals; it's a temporary and partial descent into chaos and turbulent emotion.
And after that, listen to how everything breaks down to muted guitar and hi hats, before a delicious bass-led build back up to a brief reprise of chorus, and a repeat of that sudden stop, drawing the song to a neat conclusion.
It's very clever song-writing, and it's very well delivered. Five O Fives are an exciting band with lots of great ideas, and they're solidly on my list of live must-sees. Make sure they're on yours too.
Photo credit: Livy Dukes