A very anticipated wait for their eighth studio album, “Is This How Happiness Feels?” has finally dropped from Sheffield’s Reverend and the Makers – it’s the follow-up from 2023 album release “Heatwave In The Cold North” and that was a huge success – does this match up?
Spoiler alert, it does, it’s everything and more and so bloody worth the wait.
Of course we’ve had some teases with some of the singles being released over the last years or so, but honestly, I rate it, I think it’s made a lot of people more excited for the drop.
The first single on the track is already a solid favourite – “Haircut” – it’s so bloody catchy!
Not only that, it’s the first of many impressive collaborations on the album, in the form of actress Vicky McClure (who has a killer voice by the way!) – it’s a feel good track, despite the main theme being that they don’t notice anything about their misses haircut, but hey, swings and roundabouts, it’s probably more common than you think!
It oozes charisma, is easy to pick up and singalong to and is a great start to the album, I reckon it’ll do particularly well live.
The video is also bloody brilliant (including a cameo of a certain Sunday League Assistant Manager) and well worth a watch:
Next up is “Late Night Phonecall” – released as a single around Christmas 2024, it’s already a big yes from me, whilst it does have that festive feel to it, it is absolutely not a Christmas song – it’s a feel-good, fun and down to earth track with some gorgeous gospel backtracking, lyrics that share love and closeness and just honestly makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, it’s definitely one of my favourites.
“F*cked Up” is next on the tracklist and the most recent single release ahead of the album and a collaboration with Robbie Williams!
Compared to the last two, the lyrics of this one are a bit deeper and a bit more raw, this was nice to hear and it felt very personal and quite possibly relatable to many, speaking of themes of mental health and wellbeing, but how that is quite literally the norm, and alot of people will have experienced it as they get older, or at the very least, know someone who has! It’s a strong track, an easy listen and relatable, also pretty well placed on the album in my opinion.
The fourth track is a brand new one, probably only heard by a handful ahead of the release “Want You So Bad”.
Upbeat is probably the wrong word to use, but it has a little bit more energy than the previous track, in a different way, it’s a bit faster-paced, but still has a melancholic feel to it, but if you listen to the lyrics, it does make sense, they talk about feelings, relationships and essentially the raw passion you can share with one person, to the point where you match their emotions and energy as a team, it’s quite heartwarming!
Another easy listen, again, more on the emotional side, and I think this could be a reoccurring theme across the next couple of songs on the album!
Following that is “D Minor” – another one that’s been saved for the album release and I was right, same sort of tone and vibe to “Want You So Bad” – but a different instrumental changes the feel of it completely and it gets progressively more alive throughout the song, I like the use of chords to mirror different feelings and experiences, it’s clever, took a couple of listens to sink in, but it is a very cleverly crafted track.
“Crying Over You” is next and it has that deepness to it again, but the backing track almost had an injection of deep country to it at the beginning, I rated it!
It was a bit more fast paced compared the last couple of tracks, but there was still that continous theme of exploring deep intimacy and emotion, something that is somewhat overshadowed by the beautifully mastered backing track, definitely not a criticism, you really have to listen to appreciate what is being sung, on first listen it’s a bop.
We’re at the halfway point now and the title track of the album “Is This How Happiness Feels?” – and it did remind me of a slightly heavier instrumental from the likes of “Heatwave In The Cold North” throughout it, a song that is a favourite from the last album personally, and by the time you build up into the chorus, you just get lost in the music, it was slow burning hook, but it completely takes over and is absolutely worthy of the title track.
“Laid Back” comes next and well, this again feels like a similar style to the previous album, it made me feel warm, like it was summer, cold beverage in hand, sunglasses on in the beer garden, you get me, and the title of the track really is what it says on the tin, laid back, effortless almost, it was quite a relaxing, feel-good happy track and perfectly placed on the track list in my opinion.
“UFO” comes next and this is another that was released as a single previously, a beautifully charming song, which is quite simply playing on the question that’s been on everyone’s lips at somepoint, do UFO’s exist?
In this track, absolutely, and in life, absolutely, as the lyrics say “everyone is miles apart” travelling in their own world and solar system – it is a very cleverly penned track and an upbeat listen, again very well placed after going through a mix of emotions in the previous few songs.
Again, another shout out to the music video for this, featuring frontman Jon McClure and Laura McClure (Reverend and the Makers multi-talented musician also!) it’s stunning – take a watch below!
“I Got Sun” is next and well, I just felt like I was on holiday immediately, it was so chilled out and fun, the mastering on this is perfect, it does get more energy into it as the track goes on but it’s so easy and you just slip into it, I can see this being on many a summer playlist, it’s an instant mood-booster for sure!
We’re on the home stretch now and “Forever” is one of the last tracks of the album – personally not my favourite, as I found it a bit overstimulating at first, but it’s still a solid track, it’s quite fast-paced from the get go compared to the rest, that said, it did grow on me a bit the more I listened and it settles more into itself the more the track unravelled, give it time and I think I’ll become more fond of it!
The penultimate track is “Who Cares” and is certainly packs a punch with the intro, it’s all systems go with Jon’s vocals seamlessly cutting through the chaos (in a good way of course!) and it just builds and builds on itself, it was quite easy again to settle into this one, but it took a couple of listens for me to really get into the lyrics, but that can be said for the millions of songs out there! A very melodic track with some indie-rock bounces injected into it, lovely!
And finally, a short and sweet one to finish with “Twenty Seven Past Midnight” – a sombre-like tune initially, and it was quite a sharp drop in tempo and mood initally, certainly bringing back more obvious emotion to this one – the lyric “If heaven had a telephone” did have me welling up a bit and it connected with me on a deeper level and immediately made me remember those close to me that I’d lost, the theme does feel like loss and grief which is something that most people have experienced at somepoint.
Despite me getting a little bit emotional, it was the perfect song to finish on and really brought the entire album together.
The best way to describe the album is stunning.
I loved “Heatwave In The Cold North”, I loved the other music and albums Reverend and the Makers had previously brought out, but this album feels special, it’s a real mix of influence, raw emotion and actual life experience crafted into thirteen tracks and somehow, it spoke right to me, with some singalong ability and generally just making me feel EVERYTHING – it’s bloody brilliant – bravo!
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