Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern – Essex Arms

The second part of any trilogy is almost always where things go awry; there isn’t the excitement of discovery or the comfort of resolution. History has given us Luke getting his hand cut off, Biff stealing the sports almanac and Woody being abducted to name but a few part-two-of-three miseries. But it doesn’t have to be that way, as Darren Hayman demonstrates in the second part of his Essex themed trilogy.

Whereas part one (2009’s Pram Town) was centred around the new town of Harlow, Essex Arms moves away from the suburbs and into the country with songs themed around sex in car parks, dog fights and joyriding. As with his previous work Darren demonstrates a tremendous grounding in his writing and by setting songs in familiar situations he ensures deeper emotional connections than many songwriters can hope to achieve. With a wry turn of phrase his lyrics paint believable people, whose lives resonate and matter.

Combined with the gift of storytelling is his ever present musical dexterity – delivered at the consistently high standard his fans have come to expect over the years. Instantly whistle-able tunes are framed by the decision to record without the use electrically amplified instruments. This immediately creates a sense of intimacy that thrusts him (and his bandmates) from behind the wires and magnets of the speakers and onto three piece suites across the length and breadth of the nation.

His duet with Emmy The Great on ‘Calling Out Your Name Again’ is easily one of the finest things he’s ever done. Their voices are a perfect match and the insertion of chatter between them hints at a natural innocence derived from the joy of two such talents working together. Elsewhere on ‘Super Kings’ Darren almost goes grime with lines like “Throwing tiny pebbles up at your window making you want to come down // I’m so fucking on it I’m over that shit no-one’s going to hurt you now” leaving a nagging doubt as to whether he’ll soon be popping a cap in yo’ arse, rather than completing the pathfinder Essex book of walks – alright, maybe not, but you get the idea.

As an artist that has never dropped the ball Darren continues his unbeaten streak with yet another pivotal British album. We just hope material of this pedigree reaches as wide an audience as it deserves.