Album review: Walk.DontWalk – A Horse To Be Reckoned With

Walk.DontWalk are a 5-piece hailing from Brum, and A Horse to be Reckoned With is their quirkily-titled debut album. There’s a lot to be said for bad puns, although I’m not sure about sticking them in record titles. But what do I know?

These guys play something that’s halfway between ska and indie rock, but you can forget all the obvious cliches. No element of the songwriting is overstated and the various instruments complement one another nicely. If there’s another contemporary British band that Walk.DontWalk remind me of, it’s Sheffield’s Bison – one of the more entertaining and imaginative ska bands I’ve had the privilege to see, and possessed of a real sense of fun. There’s a similar sense of play in Walk.DontWalk‘s songwriting and musicianship, blending soulful ska melodies with energetic and catchy beats.

Walk.DontWalk aren’t pushing any boundaries or breaking any new ground with A Horse To Be Reckoned With, but what they have done is recorded an album that’s unbridled good fun. Of course, how much you’ll appreciate that sense of fun is pretty tightly bound to how prepared you are to disconnect yourself from the modern zeitgeist. The question, then, is can a ska band make it big today, or has that horse already bolted? And will fans pony up for a download-only debut? I’m not going to nag, but I’d say Walk.DontWalk are worth a crack of the whip even if they don’t have me chomping at the bit.

Puns aside, A Horse To Be Reckoned With is worth investigating if you don’t have a hostile response to ska, even if only as a precursor to checking out a live show I suspect must be a lot of fun.