Album Review: The Blackouts – For Ballard’s Dad

From Philadelphia to Leeds, The Blackouts went on a literal journey for their debut album, For Ballard’s Dad.

It must be said, however, that the roots of the LP originate in another two cities, namely Sheffield and New York. The twelve songs on the album were recorded at Eiger Studios in Leeds with producer Gordon Raphael, who, by coincidence, lives only a few miles from me, in Hebden Bridge. Seattle-born Raphael is known for his role in helping define the early and era-defining sound of The Strokes, and it’s quite likely he is going to achieve the same with The Blackouts.

So yes, the fuzzy indie rock warmth of recent single Ray Gun does have a lot in common with the New York legends, especially with the positive vocal comparisons to a youthful Julian Casablancas, fresh and charismatic.

Maybe it’s coming from a working-class area in Pennsylvania, but The Blackouts have another side to their music, urban life stories related to the listener in a style similar to Arctic Monkeys. The first single from the album, Ray Gun, also ties in to that band’s early work: hook-heavy and literate, yet not wordy or light of substance.

It’s also a bop, it must be said, as are album tracks like Lovesick and Beach Boy, where Raphael and The Blackout find an aura of communality that makes it easy to see For Ballard’s Dad easily transposing itself to arenas and festivals.

The songs work on a very personal level, however; the band has described the lyrical themes as focusing on “romance, heartbreak and just about everything that happens in between as we trudge on through our young adult lives,” and it’s that focusing on everyday reality that also enabled Sheffield’s finest – as well as Wakefield’s The Cribs – to make such an outsized indie music of the last two decades.

It is the mix of New York glamour and Yorkshire grit via a streetwise Philadelphia attitude that is the album’s defining sound: one that is destined to find itself filling up indie fan’s playlists in the coming months. 

The first track of the album sums up the future of the band perfectly: Welcome to the Majors. Because if there’s any justice in the world, that is where The Blackouts and For Ballard’s Dad are heading. This isn’t so much a revival of the early ’00s transatlantic indie scene, more a welcome, updated reminder of what made many of us fall in love with the music of that time in the first place.

For Ballard’s Dad is set for release on the 3rd of April – for band updates and pre-save options, as well as details of upcoming live gigs, connect with The Blackouts on Instagram or TikTok.