Where were we?
It’s May 2016. Covid 19 sounds like the name of an Aphex Twin track, Brexit could be Autechre’s new album and you’d expect to hear Article 50 playing from a converted double-decker bus in a field in Somerset at 2am.
As Gladys Knight and the Wu-Tang Clan said – how could it be so simple then?
It’s been over eight years since we’ve heard collectively from the Everlasting Yeah. The band, which is effectively 80% of the final That Petrol Emotion line-up, played a stellar gig at the Half Moon in Putney. It might have been stretching it to say the world was their oyster, but certainly the future seemed bright. The evening featured a couple of new songs, bulking out the set from the material on 2015’s debut, Anima Rising LP. We appeared to be good to go.
Life gets in the way. There have been a couple of major health issues, and the pandemic made it harder for the gang to get in the same room. People have kept busy. Raymond’s been releasing some lovely electronic stuff via his Bandcamp page. Damien also released a solo album and kept the Undertones on the road as the world tried to return to post-pandemic normality.
The Everlasting Yeah front was quiet. Last year, though, we had some shards of light. The band was back in the studio. For artistic and financial reasons, they worked quickly. There was no hanging around—no sweating the snare drum sound.
It’s summer 2024, and the fruits of those labours are ready for the world to hear. Staying Cool, Staying Free is the second album’s title, and similar to the debut, it has seven tracks. There are a couple of slow burners, Myself When I Am Real and Heartbeat Still, clocking in over seven minutes, the latter benefiting from some gentle Fender Rhodes piano. These songs give the band time to stretch out, let the tension rise and release. Think Wilco’s Spiders (Kidsmoke) or Neu/Michael Rother.
The Kosmische Musik/Krautrock vibe is a regular touchstone. The rhythm section of Ciaran and Brendan are especially direct and energetic, driving things along while Damien and Raymond lock their guitars to the groove. Raymond and Ciaran share lead vocals throughout, with the other two providing harmonies. This all provides a rich musical well from which to draw.
I’ve been lucky enough to have access to the album for a few weeks, and it has crept up on me. I’ve woken up this week to two earworms, the crunchy first single, Girl from Miki City and the exuberant Dylan ’65. The latter track appeared in Putney, lyrically capturing the sweet spot of Bob Dylan’s point of maximum energy in the mid-sixties. The transition from acoustic to electric, the long tumbling lyrical abstractions of Gates of Eden and It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) – the hottest of white-hot streaks. Sonically, the song captures the energy of surfing that little bit above the surface, in the zone where the senses and muscle memory take over from the considered conscious approach.
This summer of 2024 has been a tough one in England. The Farage Riots have undermined any sense of optimism or unity that a change in government may have generated, a wilful act to sow division.
Staying Cool Staying Free constantly messages positivity, energy, and opportunity. These people are generating a sense of hope forged through almost a decade of wondering if it will happen again. The new LP shows a sense of inner belief based on the art of the possible, the channelling of musical friendships.
If all of this makes the Everlasting Yeah and their followers sound like a bunch of evangelical loons, then fear not. The community around the band came together for a listening party at the London Irish Centre in August. The self-deprecating humour was very much to the fore, particularly Brendan’s jest that the gorgeous acoustic You Can’t Hold Water in a Closed Fist could be a Christmas number one. If anyone in John Lewis’s marketing department hears it, he may be right.
There are some tentative steps toward live dates in 2025. A few stars beyond the band’s direct control must align for this to happen.
In the meantime, let’s be thankful what we’ve got. Staying Cool Staying Free is up there with the best of the band members previous work. It sounds alive and vital in a tough old world.
Everything is gonna to be alright.
You can currently buy the album before its official release from the band’s Facebook page:
BlackCountryRock 
This sounds like something I miggt want to investigate, especially with a nod to Wilco’s “Spiders”. Tweedy’s men looked to have moved way away from that kind of sound, so anyone who is dabbling along those lines must be worthy of a listen.
Great reviewing, as always.
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Thanks Ralph. I think you would enjoy the album. Let me know if you would like me to put you in touch with the guys for a copy as it isn’t on general sale yet
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