Sir-Vere – Psychoballisticfunk

Describing themselves as “the living embodiment of the dance/rock revolution”, Sir-Vere finally bless the digital market with their debut release Psychoballisticfunk. Recorded at R2D2 MK, the album combines tongue-in-cheek RDM with heavy techno bleeps, electro-laden rhythms and a distorted guitar with a breath of punk rock – and all of it with plenty of attitude.

For a first release, Psychoballisticfunk does a great job of highlighting the group’s skill. Always avoiding conformity and focusing heavily on funky-sounding beats, the Milton Keynes trio, consisting of vocalist and effects-expert Craig White, keyboard player and DJ Stevie Vega and guitarist Gary Morland, successfully evoke a sense of the otherworldly in each song.

Opening instrumentals Sonar and Believe immediately create the right tone as quasi-invitations to the dance floor. The eerie chords and up-beat rhythms serve to illustrate the wide-reaching effect of Sir-Vere’s fascinating RDM mix.

Holy Fool is a particularly strong track, colliding the dimensions of rock and electric in a bombastic new style of psycho-ballistic-funk with a threatening underlying bass, crazy guitar riffs and uncanny synth pop vocals. The result is a catchy hit that truly will never let the listener rest.

But the trio’s greatest accomplishment is undoubtedly Night Time, an explosion of a stream-of-consciousness vocal narrative, a sharp underlying bassline and hypnotic rhythms that demonstrate what RDM is capable of when at its best – all infused with a punk-rock attitude that would put the Ramones to shame.

However, despite the album’s successes and its clear prowess at combining a range of influences into an exceedingly non-conformist and idiosyncratic style, the songs all sound very similar, demonstrating perhaps a lack in diversity of sound. While Sir-Vere’s music is unique, Psychoballisticfunk will still speak only to the same old fanbase of other RDM groups and frighten off potential new audiences with the heavy focus on electro.

Sir-Vere are, nevertheless, still on the right track, fulfilling their promises of mixing dance and rock and taking the synthesis to new heights. While not suitable to everyone, long-time fans and people enjoying similar music will find plenty to love in the 16 tracks of Psychoballisticfunk. Not perfect, but an excellent start.

Michael Higgs

Psychoballisticfunk is released on 26^th October 2018. For further information or to order the album visit Sir-Vere’s Facebook page here.

Watch the video for Night Time here: