Unkle Bob: Invisible – single review

Unkle Bob: Invisible

(Highpony)

Streaming and Download

Available now

Unkle Bob, the much-loved Scottish five piece, have reunited and released the single Invisible ahead of an album of the same name which is due in early in October.

Formed in and around Glasgow University in 2002, the band consist of Rick Webster (voice, guitar, piano, synths); Stuart Cartwright (guitar, banjo); Ron Yeadon (drums); Geoff Widdowson (piano, organ, saxophone) and Chloe Peacock (bass, ukulele). Unkle Bob are something of an enigma; many of their tracks have featured prominently in American television dramas such as Grey’s Anatomy and CSI Miami, as well as the film What Happens In Vegas yet despite critical acclaim and a loyal fanbase they have failed to trouble the charts.

Amongst the first champions of the band were James guitarist Saul Davies and the ex-Ministry of Sound/ EMI stalwart Aaron Moore, who promptly released their debut album on the Friendly Sounds/Mother City record label. The band went on to tour with The Feeling; The Proclaimers; James and the Goo Goo Dolls to name a few, always receiving high praise with even the national press suggested Unkle Bob would “Still be selling albums 20 years from now because they have a deadly weapon in their armoury; great songs”, but unfortunately the band’s brand of folk-influenced West Coast pop did not resonate and in 2011, after nine years together, Unkle Bob split up.

When you listen to Unkle Bob you can make comparisons aplenty to acts such as REM; Prefab Sprout; and predictably (sorry) the likes of Aztec Camera and Teenage Fanclub. Having got back together previously in 2014 they are back again in 2022 with the album, Invisible, which is described as the one they have been threatening to make for twenty years, and are ready to set the record straight. “We’re invisible but we’re still here”.

The band have worked with the aforementioned Saul Davies, he appearing also on the 2014 album, recording this time in Wales, Scotland and Barnard Castle, County Durham. The lyrics of Invisible are straight to the point. It’s a song about being ignored by people, as well as the fickle nature of the music industry; “Look at your phone/Pick up your messages/I feel alone/How did we come to this?/Am I invisible/Am I invisible/Do you see me ‘cause I see you/Am I Invisible?”. It’s the lush harmonies that draw you in and are to die for.

If there is any justice they won’t be for long, in fact you can catch Unkle Bob in October at the following venues

7th – St Pancras Old Church, London
13th – Hug and Pint, Glasgow
14th – The Witham, Barnard Castle

For more information on the band visit their website, Facebook and Twitter

All words by Iain Key. See his Author Profile here author’s archive or on Twitter as @iainkey.

Source: louderthanwar.com