★★★★☆
Four Stars

2013 is full of exciting new guitar bands, and Birmingham seems to be producing more than its fair share, with JAWS, Swim Deep and most exciting  of all, Peace. Their impossibly infectious hooks and unforgettable guitar riffs first burst into the public’s consciousness in September 2012 on Peace’s wonderful EP Delicious, as well as their debut single, future stadium-filler ‘Follow Baby’. An opening slot on the NME Awards Tour with Palma Violets, Miles Kane and Django Django propelled them further towards the stardom their music warranted as they quickly became one of the growing number of bands being touted for success without so much as an album to their name.

Under the potentially crushing weight of expectation, Peace have done the impossible, and produced a truly excellent album. We’re eased into In Love by ‘Higher Than The Sun’, which roams wildly through different sounds in the psychedelic style that you’d have to expect from the band’s name and album title. If Peace have set out to be the least Googleable band ever, it’s only because they want you, when searching for them, to come across various discourses on Peace & Love and immerse yourself in the Summer of Love ideology that’s clearly had so much of an influence over them.

We would never have thought it possible, but songs like ‘Wraith’ and ‘Follow Baby’, already so familiar to fans of Peace, find new life in the context of In Love. We really couldn’t care less that ‘you could be my Ice Age sugar’, as Harry Koisser croons, means absolutely nothing at all, because we’re already completely lost in a swirling realm of colours, shapes and pure happiness. Douglas Castle on lead guitar deserves considerable credit; his soaring riffs and skittering solos lend momentum to the whole work, perfectly complementing Koisser’s brilliantly varied vocals.

A perfect balance is struck throughout between the irrepressible energy of the beginning as Peace gather speed through the recklessly powerful ‘Follow Baby’ and ‘Lovesick’ and the smoky haze of the album’s close, as ‘California Daze’ makes us feel for all the world like we’re lounging by the pool in 40 degrees sun without a care in the world. Nowhere is this balance better displayed than on ‘Float Forever’, which builds from a stripped-down start, a slow, solitary electric guitar as Koisser soulfully commands us to “sit atop the Eiffel in your mind”, to ranging, anthemic riffs and crashing cymbals.

The band’s Britpop influences can’t be denied, and a criticism of In Love would be that it’s essentially just a product of what’s come before: Post-Post-Britpop with rehashed psychedelia thrown in for good measure. But through this they manage to evoke nostalgia for a time when they weren’t even old enough to appreciate music (and I wasn’t even alive!), which has got to count for something. Peace sound a bit like Blur, act a bit like Marilyn Manson (Douglas Castle once stumbled into me in a nightclub shouting “Where are the fucking toilets?”) and feel a bit like it’s 1969, man.

Ken Loach’s latest film opens with joyous celebration. It’s 1945 and Britain has emerged victorious from years of conflict with Germany. There is dancing in the streets and a sense of communal achievement.

Yet May 1945 did not mark the end of Britain’s troubles. The urban landscape had been ravaged by bombs, and much of the remaining inner city housing was not worth keeping. Millions of British people were living in dreadful conditions: filthy, overcrowded slums with woefully inadequate toilet facilities. Loach employs a series of moving testimonies to illustrate the poverty of the time. One man speaks of how he slept alongside his siblings in a bed infested with insects, while another recounts hearing his mother dying in childbirth for want of adequate medical provision.

Within months of VE Day, a general election was held. Despite leading Britain throughout the war, Churchill lost in favour of a landslide Labour victory. The war effort had proven that the nation could achieve anything if they worked together, and the public were determined that Britain would not be dragged back to the thirties. The openly socialist agenda which Clement Attlee and the Labour Party were offering promised a brighter future for the working man. In a combination of archive footage and black and white interviews, The Spirit of ’45 tells the story of Labour’s radical reform of British industries and services.

Loach introduces key moments in the history of the welfare state up to the present day, from the nationalisation of the mines, transport, electricity and gas networks in the late forties to the push for renewed privatisation under Thatcher. Considerable attention is also given to the NHS in the wake of the 2012 Health and Social Care Bill. The documentary features interviews with retired and current health professionals who criticise the cost-cutting measures used by private contractors, which they believe limit the quality of care.

A lot has changed in the world since 1945, when Britain was ripe for socialism. The manufacturing industries were still thriving, and thousands of men found jobs rebuilding the damaged infrastructure and creating ‘new towns’. Most women did not expect to be employed; enslaved as they were in domesticity. But Labour’s successful and popular programme of reforms was as much about an ethos of community as about favourable conditions. The idea of each man as his ‘brother’s keeper’ was one which resonated with the public.

The Spirit of ’45 made me feel angry, in a good way. At times the film does feel like propaganda, although the excellent accompanying website offers an unbiased timeline and links to alternative political commentaries. In fact, little reference is made to the Labour party of today, other than one interviewee lamenting that it has been hijacked by the middle class. ‘The working class don’t realise their own power’, he says. ‘They no longer have a representative.’

The film ends with a rallying cry for a return to socialist ideals, imploring senior citizens to speak to young people about the past, and their potential to effect change. The Spirit of ’45 is a film with a sense of its own importance; a film which begs to be seen. Sadly, with some cinema ticket prices pushing a tenner, most of the parents of the 3.6 million children living in poverty in the UK today will not be able to afford to see it.

The Mimic, which began last week on Channel 4, is a comedy with a rather interesting twist. The lead, Martin (Terry Mynott), has an uncanny ability for mimicry and can copy the voices of those he hears. This gives considerable scope for celebrity impressions, and the opening scene where he takes on Terry Wogan’s voice to liven up a traffic jam establishes the mild but persistent sort of humour in the show. 

Whilst rarely moved to audible laughter, when watching The Mimic I was consistently impressed by the peaceful and placid sense of humour the show has. Although many comedies feel the need to shock and maintain a fast pace, The Mimic takes a more gentle approach. The other characters support Martin very well, especially his friend and housemate Jean (Jo Hartley)who is whimsical yet natural enough to be believable, and Martin’s newly discovered son Steven (Jacob Anderson), who is again realistic yet interesting. 

The inclusion of more serious and less light-hearted storylines makes The Mimic an intriguing mixture of drama and comedy. We feel empathy and support for Martin, yet are not brought down to despair due to the interspersed impressions he does, which show that he is not necessarily taking things too seriously. With The Mimic there is a real danger that the impressions are not integrated with the action and become a rather obsolete or inappropriate addition to what is otherwise quite a serious programme. So far, this has been skilfully avoided, but I wonder how the show will cope with the later episodes once the initial premise has been fully introduced. 

So, despite the rather slow-building and gradual pace of The Mimic, I certainly enjoyed it and look forward to seeing how the essential comedy element; his ability to impersonate voices; is developed and given variety. 

Radio 1’s Scott Mills was in Oxford to talk about his work in Uganda regarding gay rights, reported by Cherwell. However, at Cherwell Music we couldn’t let an opportunity to talk shop with a Radio 1 veteran go to waste, Scott has been on Radio 1 for fifteen years!

Having worked on drive time, early breakfast and appeared in, more recently, ‘Scott Mill’s: The Musical’ Scott is perhaps better known for his chat than his interest in music. In response to a fellow interviewer’s ‘chat or music?’ question however, Mills admits he has “always loved music” but his job is about “creating your show and personality around that.” Although the musical freedom of a DJ at Radio 1 seems relatively limited it is apparently “more than most stations and if you really like something you can shout about it, get it heard, get it played!”

Although chat and “maintaining the personality aspect” seem to be the two key elements of Mills job, his interests definitely lie with the music, offering some interesting insights during our conversation into the state of pop. 

What he finds interesting is that, although the dominating genre in the charts seems to have been ‘pop urban’ for a long time, people are turning their heads back to guitars. “A couple of years ago on Radio 1, there wasn’t a hint of a guitar” professes Mills, but now the mainstream seems to be leaning back the other way, far earlier than Mills ever expected. 

When asked what he thought causes this sort of genre-shift, Mills seemed slightly perplexed, but opined that “if there’s enough good music about, people go for it.” The return of ‘guitar music’ seems a welcome one, using the example of UK garage being around ‘FOREVER’ as a negative, and David Guetta stuff that “everyone jumped on” a couple of years ago. While Mills by no means shows a hatred for artists such as David Guetta, Pit Bull and JLS, for “making the same songs” as they were “great for DJing as they’re all the same beat,” the monotony in playing the same material seems to have nearly taken its toll.

The return of the guitar that Mills described is not merely a personal opinion but highly evident throughout the popular press. Flick through any page of NME, and the evidence of guitar rock is definitely there, with bands such as Palma Violets and Tribes being championed. The return of Bowie and Brit-poppers Blur and Suede further reinforce guitar rock’s return to the mainstream. 

For Mills, the move from ‘drive time’ to the afternoon show on Radio 1 may have represented a slight shift from the mainstream, but one he relishes: “It’s a great time to be on, there’s no pressure and you can sort of do what you want.”

With his dry wit and likeable character, Mills was by no means a disappointment to meet. On being introduced as the “music expert” I confessed to a certain element of blagging which Mills replied with “don’t worry, so do I!” Continually modest, when asked whether it was a bit bizarre being asked questions when he was so used to being on the other side of the mike, Mills replies “I like it, I’m terrified at things like [the St Anne’s talk], there’s not as many people as on radio but I can see them all!”