The House That Dirt Built starts off with its title track, which serves as no more than a short introduction to the album. A strange little audio clip, most likely pulled from some film. Once those 20 seconds are up, we get a taste of that dirt that built the house. "Oh No! Not You Again" is a frantic, loud, start to the album that sounds like it's hit the compressor 13 times. It ends with a car crash of sorts, the sound of which is immediately cut with the horns and jangly guitar trading blows over the rumbling bass undertone of "How you Like Me Now". Addictive is the only word for this. Obviously a song aimed towards an ex-lover. There's something about this track that gives your head a little lift while walking down the street. Rafferite recently remixed this and a short teaser was used in a TV series. After much pressure, The Heavy finally gave the full remix away for free and my God, it's just as good. The first time they played this on Letterman, they were asked for a rare encore by the host.
Back to the album, "Sixteen" takes us in another direction musically. Screaming Jay Hawkins a heavy influence for this one, featuring the singer from The Noisettes on backing vocals. My favourite (or one of) part of this song is everything surrounding the line "He gonna stretch her out, like a tape in a cassette". It's got a lovely retro vibe to it. "Sixteen" is cut by a crash of lightning in "Short Change Hero" which features a sort of Spaghetti Western intro before breaking into the main body of the song. I never used to care much for the intro, but I have grown to like it. The song itself, I love how the guitar and percussion have a distinctive roll to their sound.
Tick tock tick tock tick tock..."No Time" brings back the energy of the opening track (and midway through, distinctive horns). The clock ticking throughout the song does give the impression the song is in a race against time, it's just a dirty little timebomb. "Long Way From Home" really hits the nail on the head for me. Kelvin's voice in this one is spot on, soulful. "Cause For Alarm" gives us a little bit reggae, and Kelvin does his best to put on an authentic accent. It's decent track, with a decent groove to it, but ultimately not as good as what has come before. "Love Like That" has a similar vibe to "Sixteen", very retro, not sure about the outer space effects though.
"What You Want Me To Do?" is the last gritty rocker on the album. It doesn't quite have the pace of the previous tracks, but it has enough about it. The final track on the album is "Stuck" and it's a slow ballad. Which just goes to show, The Heavy are willing to try anything. We've had a variety of influences and styles throughout the whole album, so why stop now? By now, you should all know that I'm a sucker for a slow song, so naturally I really enjoy this one.
Overall, fantastic album, but it was my choice. The band are still in the early stages of their career, having released three albums so far. They're currently in the studio working on number four, so if you liked this and you're feeling the band, I would recommend checking the other albums out. Then feel free to join me in the Music in 2015 topic to discuss their fourth album
Top tracks:
1. How You Like Me Now
2. Long Way From Home
3. Short change Hero
Maybe.
but nice when singing