Album Review- Tribes "Rabbit Head"

Baby, the 2012 album by Tribes is one of my favorite albums of the last twenty years. The band were born out of the Britpop buzz diet of Pixies, the Smiths and the Clash. A mix of youthful energy and Marc Bolan-inspired vocals- the band seemed picked from the early heyday of Suede and Supergrass (and championed by Frank Black) 

The problem with drawing from that pool is found in reviews like Allmusic which mentions several bands in comparison- Nirvana, Razorlight, Oasis, Blur and indeed Pixies, T Rex and Suede. Allmusic also slights them with a three star review of the debut which would put it on my list of #unlovedmusic 

Tribes has a very common band template. Buzz debut followed by second album then label drop (Island Records in this case). The difference is that they now show up ten years later as if it was business as usual. 

Both 2013s Wish to Scream and 2023s Rabbit Head fall short of the debut. But they do contain three or four killer songs that make them worthwhile.

Songs like “10 Ways to Improve Your Life” and “It’s All Borrowed” are nice adds to the catalog with guitar crunch. There are some missteps like where they try to get clever with “-Ism” or lean into Yard Act-isms.

But of course they are best at those Suede-like swoops like “Hard Pill” and “Dad I’m Not A Tough Guy” and the all out “Medicine” I won’t pretend there’s a lot of nuance here. 

You are probably going to know right away if you like this or not. It’s not going to “grow on you” after time. It’s a blast of energy and if you long for the days of the Libertines, the Fratellis and the Kaiser Chiefs, then enjoy.