Silverbacks – Archive Material review

Around in one format or another since the middle of last decade, Dublin based quintet Silverbacks consist of brothers Daniel and Kilian O’Kelly, guitarist Peadar Kearney, Emma Hanlon on bass and what seems to be a rotating cast of drummers. As youths the O’Kelly’s mined their father’s CD collection for discovery – he worked it on a library basis, one in, one out – whilst later they gravitated towards The Strokes, Sonic Youth, Pavement and Television.

Dublin of course has it’s fair share of bands who lean art rock in Gilla Band/Girl Band, Fontaines DC and The Murder Capital, and Silverbacks are equally headstrong, releasing their debut album Fad in 2020 straight into the headwinds of lockdown, simply because they felt it had to be heard after a year gathering dust. They began writing their second immediately afterwards.

Archive Material in spite of the record industry’s current machinations is full of zest and angular charm, filtering their influences through a wry lyrical window. For a quintet the music can be a little skeletal, but grows wherever Hanlon’s vocals feature; on I’m Wild they locate enough melody and lightness of touch to distance themselves from their peers with confidence.

You can read a full review here