Another Press Club album cycle, another chance to lament how underrated this band is. This is the fourth time now, and while it’s always lovely to revisit them and pass on even more of their deserved flowers, it’d be better if it felt like that carried some form of impact. Right now, Press Club are still a commodity outside of alt-punk’s in-crowd. It probably isn’t fair to blame that solely on Spanish Love Songs and their effortless barging past of everyone else with a foot in the door, but that isn’t an invalid excuse, either. Even if both bands are utterly terrific, Press Club were just pipped to the post. It happens.
Having said that, there’s an element of Press Club that’s rarely been as comfortable among the higher-profile set of alt-punk anthemia. For one, they still, to this day, don’t even have a Twitter account (though given the regular exodi with how that site’s turned out, it’s becoming a far more common occurrence). More pertinently, their reticence for similar big swings hasn’t gone unnoticed. Press Club seem happier going their own way, while still falling inside those wistful, wallop-to-the-heart parameters that are key constituents of their scene. It’s likely why To All The Ones That I Love is the deviation it is, albeit one that still has a recognisable form.
To be clear, then, this isn’t some ground-up rebuilding of what Press Club are. Rather, it’s dialling into indie-rock as well as indie-punk, effectively erecting a third pillar to scale alongside the twin inevitabilities of The Menzingers and Spanish Love Songs. In essence, none of that is too alien for Press Club. If anything, it’s a much more snug fit for them, now they can be a little looser and more earthen without too much of an onus on ‘punk’. It’s likely why those impulses aren’t succumbed to until the fifth track No Pressure, the first song on the album where Natalie Foster gets shoutier with her more defined Aussie accent forcing its way through. And even then, the clicking percussion and sweeping, patterned guitars on the verses ensure the newness isn’t sidelined entirely.
Overall, it makes for a nice next step, one indicative of considerable, natural growth for Press Club. At the risk of drawing too many comparisons where they aren’t needed, it really is like Spanish Love Songs’ No Joy, their own indie-rock pivot that achieved some of their best moments yet through opening itself out. Press Club mightn’t be at the same level, but the point still stands. Hell, Wilt and Wasted Days almost feel like No Joy cuts in their own right, as guitars ripple and light bounces across their pleasant aerated mixes.
Of course, there’s also the usual refrain from total immediacy that Press Club have been fixated with from the start, but at least the space to play around with that is now open. Vacate is a lot more deliberate in its swirling indie-rock riff that metastasises across a relatively lengthy song, almost a regrowth of the album’s solemn starting block I Am Everything. At the album’s opposite end, Desolation fuzzes things up for a slightly rawer closing note, in contrast to what’s otherwise a typically clean production job. Compared to similarly styled albums, To All The Ones That I Love revels in its greater freedom, even more when it fully clicks and Press Club capture that driving indie spirit with both hands. The title track has by far the closest thing to an earworm hook, but Staring At The Ceiling surpasses it in mood, casting glances towards Ed Sheeran’s Castle On The Hill with its proud roil and design for self-reflection and human moments that are decidedly universal.
All the while, there’s a power to the pace kept, as opposed to runny, smeared-over size with no potency. Press Club may cut back on the grandeur often, but by no means are they weaker for it. Quite the opposite, actually, when they’re blessed by a rhythm section that does some brilliant things for them. Iain Macrae’s bass and Frank Lees’ drums really are the sleeper hitters of To All The Ones That I Love, and that’s clearly recognised within the band when they get plenty of opportunities to rip out some properly elevating stuff. There’s a freneticism from both on Champagne & Nikes and Tightrope that’s supremely taut and post-punk-coded, not with any sort of deep resonance but plenty of firmness to hold them in place. Whereas this particular drum tone could be dismissed as stiff elsewhere, there’s a determination from Press Club to blow such complaints clear away.
Thus, it goes without saying that To All The Ones That I Love—like all Press Club albums—is a success. Once again, they’ve captured their specific pocket of the alternative landscape and made it into something fresh and vibrant, now with a newer spin on even that. Some may be reticent about its more measured, occasionally even low-key style, but it is a grower in a way that others of the same stripe aren’t. They may start out excellent and stick at that level, but Press Club’s ebbs and flows and steady growth are just different in a great way. Give it a chance and a bit of time, and To All The Ones That I Love can win you over in a major way. Then maybe go back to the other Press Club albums, ‘cause you’ve missed a lot of good stuff.
For fans of: Spanish Love Songs, Thick, The Gaslight Anthem
‘To All The Ones That I Love’ by Press Club is released on 2nd May.
Words by Luke Nuttall
