Album Review: The Resurrection Club – Survival

A reunion of long-time friends and past, now renewed, bandmates is what drives Survival, the debut album from The Resurrection Club.

Martin McLeish, Mike (Spike) Paterson, and Morris Fraser had played together in Glasgow-based post-punk band outfit The Plastic Flies in the 1980s, but just as time and distance pushed them apart musically, it has in turn helped them reunite with help from producer and DJ Robin Twelftree, known for his work with The Prodigy.

Two things immediately struck me about the album. The first is how current tracks like Our Luck’s Run Out sound. It has some of those 80s and 90s Scottish indie/post-punk textures in the arrangement and certainly in the vocals.

In that, flickers of Simple Minds, The Blue Nile, and Aztec Camera from that era can be briefly glimpsed, but it’s a sound that informs much modern indie and rock music of the moment. If you’re familiar with the music of the European dark scene, the moody and moving rock shapes of the album will be pleasing to your ears.

Secondly, it’s how the album doesn’t avoid the problems of the present but encourages us to seek answers, to resist, rather than succumbing to fear. They’ve described the music as being “a post-punk stance in a post-truth world,” and on Survival, that leads to lyrics that are honest and soul-bearing, but as on Survival, Pt 1 & Pt 2, it is framed in a positive manner, looking forwards and upwards to a better future.

The streaming version of the album contains Rebel Diamond Rat Pack – written by Martin McLeish, Michael Paterson, and Morris Fraser – that, for its talk of DEFCON 1, channels its frustration into what ultimately is an upbeat electronic/post-punk crossover. That can also be heard on Emergency, with its noticeable use of Obama spoken word samples.

As a testament to friendship down the years and a tribute to musicians that overcome the odds to go on a creative journey together, working in Scotland, Australia, and Spain, Survival can be viewed as a success.

But its real strength lies in how The Resurrection Club have made the years melt away. Music can help us to stay forever young, even in nostalgia mode, and while McLeish, Paterson, and Fraser don’t dwell on or in the past here, the album is certain to trigger happy memories for listeners of a certain age.

If you have a fondness for the Postcard/Fast Product era of Scottish indie music and anthemic rock of the present, maybe a weakness for Deacon Blue too, find a place in your heart for Survival.

Survival is out now to stream on all major music platforms, including YouTube and Spotify. A limited-edition vinyl version of the album is now available on Bandcamp. Get to know more about The Resurrection Club’s past, present, and hopefully future on Instagram.