Garbage reappear in Manchester’s McKinney.
Pop rock is a term you wouldn’t wish on anyone, but somehow Manchester-based McKinney have transformed the genre into something with a shred of credibility again. The sugar-sweet voice of Marc Ash is able to soften the hearts of anyone who is lucky enough to hear McKinney’s debut album ‘Me Me Me’.
There are darker shades of beauty to be found throughout this album. ‘Surreal’ has a grotty sheen over it that makes it slightly more palatable for those afraid of Grrl rock with vocals this sweet, whilst ‘The Hurting’ almost sounds like Garbage on one of their (sadly long gone) good days. This sound can be heard in several of their songs, but all the time there is the feel of Sleater-Kinney throughout- ‘Stripped Invisible’, and ‘Wedding Dress’ both display the same vocal patterns as that US Grrl-band, even if the latter sounds so country it wouldn’t be a surprise to hear it played on Radio 2 of an evening.
McKinney may be female fronted, and could easily be passed off as yet another pop-rock band, but that doesn’t mean to say they can’t produce a sassy, sexy song which compacts all the best bits of their talent into one bite sized chunk. Whilst most of the tracks on this album show promise yet fail to fully engage the mind, ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ is the flaming torch that declares that McKinney are going to be around for some time. Situated in this album perfectly suited for commercial radio play amongst all those tedious pop divas is a spiralling guitar solo that cries out for attention. The steady purr of the song is heightened by this all-out addition by guitarist ‘Zero’.
After such a surprising middle track, the album seems to pick up. With the two singles already released, there’s a decidedly commercial feel to the first half of the album, but once ‘Again and Again’ begins, you know that the second half is where McKinney feel most comfortable. There is a power behind Marc Ash's voice that is easily backed up by the males in the band- it is almost like that neighbour who insists on walking all three of her vicious pitt-bulls at the same time. As much as Marc tries to hold them at bay with her chirruping, somehow they still manage to outshine her.
‘Give Myself’ may well appeal to fans of grunge- its fuzzed up guitars sound suspiciously like that of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. Perhaps McKinney are not as original as they first sound to be. This grubby feel is continued on with the sleazy ‘Gods Honour’, the lyrics of which reads like a pessimist's diary.
Like a more melodic, UK version of Sleater-Kinney, McKinney are the band who will slowly sneak up and overtake the latest new bands to steal the hearts of both younger rockers and all-knowing, all-condemning oldies in one fell swoop.