Review: T.V. Priest – “Uppers”

Sub Pop – 05 February 2021

FFO: The Fall, Patti Smith

T.V. Priest is one of those bands that can be hard to believe have a real story: Played one show to no one right before the covid pandemic began, put a single up on bandcamp, and suddenly find themselves preparing to release their debut full length out on the legendary Sub Pop Records. But in the interest of cutting out any “they have to pay their dues” arguments as soon as possible, let me say that Uppers is a fantastic album and is totally worth the hype.

Part of England’s recent interest in smart post-punk (see also Black Country New Road, who have a new album coming out shortly), T.V. Priest plays the kind of punk music that is both aggressive and groovy. I want to dance to this just as much as anyone else might want to mosh. But it’s also smart and well written. Both musically and lyrically, the band is sharp and they’re tight, and they do a great job of writing a lot of diverse songs that feel cohesive without getting boring.

A lot of the appeal of Uppers comes from vocalist Charlie Drinkwater, who is just at home in an almost crooning baritone as he is with spoken word. He clearly takes a lot of cues from the late Mark E. Smith, though where listeners often strain to understand lyrics in The Fall (especially in the later albums), Drinkwater’s diction is remarkably clear. He actually may owe more to Patti Smith in his delivery; vocal lines that often start sung, become spoken, start to snarl, and crescendo into a chorus. 

The rest of the band is great too. Guitarist Alex Sprogis knows how to fill out space without taking over control. His playing is jagged and aggressive (nods to Gang of Four) but melodic in a way that sounds like mid-career Modest Mouse. Backed up by a rhythm section made of bass Nic Bueth (bass) and drummer Ed Kelland (drums) this band feels unstoppable.

But for all the comparisons I’ve already made, T.V. Priest has already managed to carve out a fairly unique sound. Just when the album was starting to feel a little same-y, I was pleasantly surprised by the brief “History Week,” an instrumental and electronic track – an interlude for sure, but also shows that this band has some more depth. The later track, “Fathers and Sons” is a great demonstration of everything this band is capable of. It’s groovy, aggressive, and catchy all at once. The guitars are oscillating between an intense wall of sound and single note melodic lines. Later, “This Island” has a really surprising and great keyboard part that I can’t stop thinking about. All to say that T.V. Priest absolutely could’ve written the first song on Uppers (it’s called “The Big Curve” and it’s good) twelve times in a row and called it a day and it would’ve been fine. They’re taking risks that really deserve to be rewarded, even if those risks don’t always pay off.

For a band that’s more or less been together for a year, this is about as strong a debut album as you can get. For a band that had been together for five or ten years this is a great album too. There are moments here and there that feel like they might be filling time (“The Ref”) and I have to wonder if the writing process was hindered by a deadline. But regardless, a few moments that don’t have the same intensity and beauty as the rest of the album can be forgiven. I got a download of Uppers to do this review, but immediately bought the LP anyway. I want to listen to Uppers a lot, but I can’t wait to see what their next album is going to bring.