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The Heavy

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What’s the Deal? Fusing ingredients like Stax-era horns, scathing punk guitars, back alley croons, and funky, fuzz-drenched instrumentals, the Heavy debut with Great Vengeance and Furious Fire, an astonishingly cohesive album due stateside April 8. Opener “That Kind of Man” (watch below) sets the tone, bouncing like an acid-fueled scrap from The A-Team film soundtrack. From there, ironically, the instrumentation gets more eclectic, and the album more solid; “In the Morning” fleshes out TV on the Radio’s psych-and-soul-pop shortcomings, while “Doing Fine” rattles brassy acoustics over frontman Swaby’s rasp.

Who: Longtime pals Swaby (vocals) and Dan T (guitar) spent their childhood sharing reggae, rock, hip-hop, and soul records before forming the Heavy, and eventually — over a few incarnations — reaching the current lineup with Spencer “Big Daddy Spence” Page (bass), Chris Ellul (drums), and Little Hannah Collins (vocals/keyboards). They hail from Noid, England.

Fun Fact: Swaby, an English-born citizen, is the son of one of the first West Indian families to immigrate to the Noid area, and also one of eleven children. You can also see him bumpin’ in Texas with Playmates here.

On the Web: theheavy.co.uk

Now Hear This: The Heavy – “Coleen” DOWNLOAD MP3

Now Watch This: “That Kind of Man”