Nothing But Thieves: How food critic Jay Rayner helped the direction of new album

The operation "concept album" is capable to onslaught fearfulness into the bosom of galore euphony fans.

For each masterpiece (David Bowie's Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, The Who's Quadrophenia), there's a colossal dud similar Muse's Drones, with its revelatory thesis that warfare is, like, bad.

So erstwhile Essex five-piece Nothing But Thieves started toying with the thought of a conception medium past year, they were alert of the pitfalls.

"I thought it was incredibly basal to constitute an medium that simply said, 'Here's a dystopian aboriginal and it's each atrocious and evil'," says guitarist and main songwriter Joe Langridge-Brown.

Instead, helium came up with the thought of Dead Club City - a walled-off megacity that helium uses to sermon privilege and segregation successful an progressively divided world.

"It's fundamentally a members-only club, astatine a clip erstwhile the full thought of presumption is changing," helium says.

"Power is lying much and much successful the hands of the affluent and the radical successful complaint of exertion and societal media. So I was wondering what it would beryllium similar if they became the de facto heads of state, alternatively of a government."

The thought of a fictional, autarkic city-state allowed him to determination beyond the band's 2020's Moral Panic album, which railed against the threats of clime change, civilization wars and extremism.

Instead, helium explored what would hap if the forces of chaos and part were taken to an extreme, and 1 conception of nine simply opted out.

"The medium explores tons of antithetic points of view," helium says. "Some radical are excited astir the imaginable of this place, different radical alteration their minds arsenic the medium goes on."

As the saying goes, inspiration comes erstwhile you slightest expect it - and Langridge-Brown credits nutrient professional Jay Rayner for helping him unlock Nothing But Thieves' 4th record.

"He advertised a penning people conscionable aft the pandemic," the guitarist explains.

"It was for journalists, and specifically nutrient journalists, due to the fact that it was astir penning astir the aforesaid topic, food, but being capable to support it entertaining for the reader.

"I deliberation that's perfectly invaluable for a songwriter. How galore songs tin you constitute astir emotion and support it caller and caller and engaging? So I got a batch retired of it."

The instrumentalist says Rayner's champion spot of proposal was: "If you're not definite wherever you're going, enactment it successful the archetypal sentence."

That, successful turn, inspired the album's opening track, Welcome To The DCC, which was conceived arsenic an advert for the utopian members-only club.

A glossy disco-rock hybrid, it's peppered with slogans ("sunlit uplands" and "take backmost control") that echo the real-world promises made by a definite marque of populist politician.

"For me," says vocalist Conor Mason, "it's astir being sold a dream, past being sold down the river. I deliberation it's thing we tin each subordinate to implicit the past fewer years."

In achromatic and white, the album's themes could dependable heavy-handed. But musically, Nothing But Thieves are astatine their thrilling best.

Each opus is told from the constituent of presumption of 1 of the city's residents, giving the set the accidental to demolish and rebuild their dependable track-by-track.

Overcome, which follows 2 young lovers connected their mode the city, has the driving, open-road sheen of Tom Petty and Don Henley; portion the low-slung hip-hop beats of Keeping You Around people the archetypal signs of discontent wrong the dome.

Closing way Pop The Balloon is simply a scabrous onslaught of cactus-prick guitar riffs, arsenic the inhabitants autumn retired and the seeds of gyration are sown.

"Some of the characters from passim the medium are speaking astatine antithetic times successful that song," says Langridge-Brown. "That's wherefore it feels chaotic. It's the heaviest happening connected the record."

As frontman, Mason commits to the thought of playing antithetic characters, uncovering caller registers and vocal modes to propel the communicative along.

"I get bushed of conscionable doing the large stone vocal," helium says. "I'm a monolithic psyche and R&B fan, that's what I grew up singing, and I similar challenging myself to amusement different broadside to my voice."

He pushes himself to the bounds connected City Haunts, with a trouser-tightening falsetto that conveys a creeping consciousness of unease arsenic helium realises the "sleazeball" citizens of Dead Club City aren't the benignant of radical you'd privation to walk eternity with.

The precocious notes were inspired by his emotion of Al Green and Prince - but does helium interest astir replicating them live?

"I had classical grooming erstwhile I was a kid," helium laughs. "So immoderate I take to bash with my throat, it's ever supported."

Formed successful Southend 11 years ago, Nothing But Thieves person ever balanced their stone credentials with a knack for pop.

They achieved aboriginal occurrence with the azygous Itch, whose wailing vocals and laser-beam guitar riffs recovered a sympathetic location connected BBC Radio 1 and won the set enactment slots with Twenty One Pilots and Arcade Fire.

Future azygous Trip Switch featured connected the soundtrack to Fifa 16, gaining them a full caller audience; portion their 2nd LP, Broken Machine, was named 1 of the champion stone albums of 2017 by the Independent.

Australia and Japan, successful particular, person fallen for the band's theatrical, melodic stone songs - and they've gained a fearsome unrecorded reputation, adjacent attracting the attraction of the Rolling Stones, who invited them to play successful France past summer.

One of the reasons for their success, they suggest, is that they're not shy of a large popular hook.

"Some bands are frightened of penning choruses, and we're conscionable not 1 of them," says Langridge-Brown.

"There's ever been this popular sensibility with us," agrees Mason. "It's each astir having a large song, a well-structured song, with a large chorus."

"There are cooler ways of penning a song, but I don't needfully deliberation they're better," Langridge-Brown continues.

"I recognize the phenomenon, due to the fact that if you get [the chorus] wrong, it tin dependable cheesy - truthful sometimes it's amended to not scope for it and beryllium like, 'Oh, no, we don't bash that. We're a chill indie band.'"

According to the UK midweek charts, Dead Club City is connected people to springiness the set their archetypal fig 1 album.

The lone existent contention is Elton John, whose top hits medium is inactive enjoying a post-Glastonbury boost - but the set are studiously avoiding updates from their grounds label.

"We're not letting it dictate our temper excessively much," says Langridge-Brown. "I mean it's Elton bloody John!"

Even so, the set person stocked their circuit autobus with celebratory goodies, successful lawsuit there's bully quality connected Friday evening.

"I ideate it'll beryllium a precise boozy autobus to France," laughs Mason.

And with the conception medium raising their illustration higher than ever, are determination immoderate thoughts of a 2nd chapter?

"Not a full album," says Langridge-Brown. "But each present and again, we could constitute a opus from the metropolis and beryllium like, 'This is conscionable different portion of the story'.

"The full metaphor of immoderate radical being wrong this exclusive nine and immoderate radical being extracurricular isn't going to spell away, truthful I deliberation we tin ever spell backmost to it," adds Mason.

"It should ne'er person a cleanable ending."