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At about the same time that four piece indie-rock band Harrisons were forming, fellow Sheffield based quartet, the now hugely successful, record breaking, award winning Arctic Monkeys were putting the finishing touches to tracks in readiness of their imminent recording and release on debut album 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'. The comparisons have been made between the bands by many a critic in the past with their similarly infectious style of music being most noted, it's safe to say though, if debut album 'No Fighting In The War Room' manages to draw even half the attention their Hillsborough compatriots received they'll be laughing. Don't be too quick at this stage though to assume that with all you know of the band, their roots and their assumed playing style that this album is just going to be a re-jigged version of 'Favourite Worst Nightmare'. The band themselves are resolute stating: "We feel we have made an album of diversity, it sounds like everything we wanted and more, it has the faster numbers, it has the slower numbers, the upbeat and downbeat numbers."
With that admission in mind, opener 'Dear Constable' is a riotous affair with a mass of frantic snare drum and cymbal action, body shocking electric guitars and a lone bass guitar accompaniment from Senor Birch applying the same effect to proceedings as Duran Duran's Andy Taylor during the wizardry he applied to smash hit 'Rio'. In all honesty it's a bit like they took Jack Butler's 'Boy Vs Beast' and roughed it up a little. 'Man Of The Hour' is gritty, sounding like a possible original contender for the Quadraphenia soundtrack. 'Little Boy Lost' is a beautiful piece of indie-rock balladry with Arctic Monkeys/ Verve styled influences, remaining uplifting from beginning to end despite the tracks sombre choice of topic. 'Listen' is an exploration by the band into acoustic folk music, interrupted only by the murmurings of an electric keyboard, something different from the bands trademark guitar orientated art and a refreshing inclusion to an album that has more twists and turns than spaghetti junction.
So we all spent our youth listening to 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not', but since that albums release a new wave of indie-rockers have found their feet. The Harrisons offer a new slant on an ever changing genre, packed with northern charm, aimed at challenging social issues and revealing the most intimate of emotions, the bands varied sound seems to offer something more.
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