RX Bandits - Mandala

It’s here, RX Bandits’ 6th album, and their first studio release for 3 years, and I’ve got to be honest, first play through was a little disappointing. But that just shows what a jump from …And The Battle Begun this album is. First thing that hits you is the lack of brass section, it feels like a vital ingredient has been removed from the recipe and it’s difficult to swallow at first (enough with this food metaphor).

Now, as a long time Bandits fan I wasn’t going to give up after a lacklustre first listen, after all I had the same reaction the first time I heard The Resignation and I quickly learned to love that.

The change in band lineup has forced some drastic stylistic changes, and therein lies both the albums greatest strength and also its biggest flaw. This album is clearly a progression, and a push in a new direction whilst still retaining key elements of their sound. The songs are longer overall than any Bandits album before, and feature the welcome return of hidden jams at the end of tracks that were sadly missed from …And The Battle Begun. Songs like Mientras La Veo Soñar (the first Bandits song to feature Spanish lyrics) end with spacey, hypnotic outros in a style one can’t help but compare to The Mars Volta. Even more traditional sounding songs are full of new features (such as the staccato falsetto vocals in sections of It’s Only Another Parsec…). White Lies showcases a new approach to slow Bandits songs, where previously they had a distinctly reggae sound, this track feels more like some of the slower The Sound Of Animals Fighting tracks (not surprising I suppose considering all four remaining members of Bandits were in that band).

This new direction has its flaws as I’ve already mentioned. The main problem seems to be simply that the band have tried to fill the emptier sound with more technically proficient fiddly bits. Unfortunately this sometimes feels uneccessary and clogs otherwise brilliant songs with over-complicated sections for no real reason. A prime example of this is the fret-wankery at the end of the album opener My Lonesome Only Friend (as well as momentarily in Bled To be Free), a style that works in the odd TSOAF song but feels out of place in a Bandits song. Maybe I’m being unfair, but that is the key problem, some moments on this album simply feel out of place.

That said, it is the first offering in their 14 year career with no brass section (the odd blast of brass appears on a couple of songs, but only in the background) and that sax-trombone combo always added the extra layer of melody onto their songs which is sorely missed. But don’t get me wrong, overall this album is incredibly good, if different. I can’t help but draw comparison with previous offering …And The Battle Begun, but because that is one of my favourite albums of all time it isn’t fair to compare the two. It’s a different direction and an attempt to progress their sound even further. It is a challenging album for RX Bandits, but give it time and it will reward you, I guarantee it.

Still not keen on the artwork though.

Rating - 8/10

I can’t pick two standout tracks because they are all good, so here is just two tracks picked at random

Now because I’m a nice person and those fools at Spotify have neglected to upload any RX Bandits albums to the player, here is a mix of some choice tracks from their back catalog (minus the 1st album which I have lost somewhere). Gives you some idea of the level of progression this band has managed though. Track listing is…

1) Gun In Your Hand from Halfway Between Here And There
2) In All Rwanda’s Glory from Progress
3) Nugget from Progress
4) Taking Chase As The Serpent Slithers from The Resignation
5) Pal-Treaux from The Resignation
6) Overcome from The Resignation
7) On A Lonely Screen from …And The Battle Begun
8) In Her Drawer from …And The Battle Begun
9) One Million Miles An Hour Fast Asleep from …And The Battle Begun

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