Silverbacks - “A Job Worth Something”

SXSW 2023 - OEB Score: 7; Popularity Index: 3

Pairs Well With…Yard Act, Velvet Underground, Fontaines DC

Post-punk urgency meets 60s/70s rock riffs in Silverbacks’ music, a sound that looks back and forward at once on their latest record Archive Material. It’s the second full-length from the Irish rock band, a consistent record that’s lo fi enough to be comfortable without losing focus. Speak-sing vocals match angular guitar lines and mid-tempo, garage-rock rhythm, rarely slow but never incessant. The middle ground they till is tense but cool, nostalgic but experimental. To take a sound that would feel at home alongside classic British Invasion rock & roll and still make it interesting and current is impressive, a feat Silverbacks pull off track after track on Archive Material with memorable appeal. (Kevin McStravick)