The vocals on "Me and My Madness", the opener on the third album from Heavenly, are twee (whatever that really means), but then the guitars rave up and the whole thing churns like a buzzsaw. That dichotomy between sweetness and grit, melody and hard-edged wit is what always gave the music of this band such currency. And while The Decline and Fall of Heavenly, reissued now on vinyl from Skep Wax, has the familiar charms of this group's output, it also sees the style expanding.
I hate the word twee, really, but I think it's shorthand to describe a kind of DIY indie that we hold dear, one which favors a certain approach that's not the macho maximum riffage of Seattle or shoegaze, for example. But even as we reach for that term, we have to acknowledge that in 1994 -- and now, really -- this is pretty bracing stuff. Released as Heavenly found themselves more firmly linked up with the riot grrl scene on these shores, The Decline and Fall of Heavenly is a brisk set. Numbers like "Modestic" bring horns into the mix to give the pop extra pep around the sharply-rendered lyrics, while "Sperm Meets Egg, So What?" is even better. The mixing of the serious subject matter with the bright indie-pop around it is done with such deftness that one sort of marvels now, 30 years on, at how maybe we took Heavenly a little for granted back then.
Bundled with the digital version of this reissue of The Decline and Fall of Heavenly are 1993 singles "Atta Girl" and "P.U.N.K. Girl" and assorted B-sides. These Sarah Records offerings pointed the way towards the 1994 album, with the band operating at peak power, and at a frenzied clip. Both tracks shine as very much iconic singles of the UK indie scene, and stand as proof of how wonderful it was to come of age in an era where such DIY goodness was within reach at cool record shops. Released together here by K Records, the two singles came at the dawn of the Britpop years, and served up evidence that it wasn't just the lads with the loud guitars who were capable of defining the sound of England. Heavenly would flirt with such a larger sound themselves on Operation Heavenly a few years after, but we'll discuss that when that album is reissued later this year. For now, enjoy this music that's both timelessly good, and emblematic of so much of what made indie so invigorating in the first place.
The Decline and Fall of Heavenly is out now from Skep Wax.
[Photo: Alison Wonderland]