The Birthday Suit are the current band of Idlewild’s guitar virtuoso and backing vocalist, Rod Jones. Anyone who got a copy of his 2009 self-released debut solo work,  ‘A Sentimental Education’, will know he’s an accomplished lead singer too.

It’s important not to mistake them for The Birthday Suits- an American-Japanese drum and bass band, or The Birthday Suit page on facebook- an online clothing company which seems to specialise in overpriced tees for both miserable and moody looking glamorous women. I decided to draw the line at looking on youTube as I wasn’t sure my router could cope with the inevitable deluge of pasty arses bobbing about…

The reason for mentioning the alternative birthday suits is that the band have a remarkably low profile online, with even their website only consisting of a 5 track embedded player and list of upcoming gigs. With the gigs in question not starting until the end of October, and the album being released a few weeks later in mid-November, you can see why they’d still have a low profile, however, an online bio of the other band members wouldn’t go amiss. Even the press release only refers to them as, ‘Jones’ friends and local musicians’.

Also on the press release is the suggestion that Jones has attempted to recapture the sound of early Idlewild, in particular their excellent debut ‘100 Broken Windows‘. While you can hear in places exactly where this has been attempted, the majority of stuff sounds closer to more recent Idlewild and the afore mentioned ‘Sentimental Education’.

Rip roaring album openers ‘Hope Me Home’ and ‘On My Own’ in particular sound like they could easily have been on ‘Post Electric Blues‘, or a perhaps a future Idlewild project. ‘Hope Me Home’ in particular has an urgent drum beat where you can hear the enjoyment of the band in the closing licks (oh god that sounds like a review of muff diving porn, but I’m sure you know I mean guitar licks).

The second track has the introduction of the additional female vocal and continues with a similar guitar riff to the first, this time used more sparingly and intercut with strings. Third track, ‘They Say I Love You’ slows proceedings down, after the energetic opening, with its talking of a relationship in the public eye that isn’t as one dimensional as the public perhaps perceive.

‘On My Own’ picks up the pace once again; however this is perhaps the only track on the album where you feel a singer with a stronger lead vocal could have improved it. Where Jones doesn’t have a bad voice, it’s not the biggest, and you can perhaps tell that he’s used to writing for/with Roddy Woomble. Potentially over analysis on my part, but the impression is made that perhaps the lyrics of this song hint towards Jones being aware of this failing, for example, “Rearranged ideas scream to me; I don’t want to do this on my own”.

‘Sell it All’ is another drop in pace, leading into the even slower starting ‘World Gone By’. Both tracks talk of break ups, a theme that runs through a number of the titles and lyrics across the album. The latter with it’s heavy string arrangement and driving chorus is the more musically interesting of the two. The former talks of airing bad feelings in public and then moving on. This perhaps gives a hint towards the two tracks before it being Jones’ opportunity to vent about the hiatus and semi-splitting of the band he’s been in for the best part of 15 years.

‘Are You Ok?’ picks up the pace once again and as the title suggests it finds the band in a more reflective mood. Listening to the repeated chorus of “We can make it” you really believe them. The increase in pace is maintained into the next track and although the subject matter is less positive, the impetuous is there and the album races towards a brilliant three track conclusion.

‘Don’t Look Down’ sounds exactly like you’d imagine many of the ‘Sentimental Education’ tracks would have sounded with a full band. Although it is keys led, it has a great ceilidh-esque feel, making it one of the stand-out tracks of the album. If they intend to release any future singles this should really be at the forefront of their thoughts. It captures that whirlwind spirit you get of dancing with someone you love at a ceilidh, in a way that you rarely hear in a “pop” track. It also shows as a band they can write a great up-tempo love song.

The penultimate track is the title track and maintains the tempo but goes in a different direction, returning to a stronger guitar lead, with a worrying resemblance to a Lost Prophets opening. Building on that wobbly start, it leads to another enjoyable track which shows Jones’ heritage.

The closing track ‘Talking Over You’ is a well constructed duet between Jones and Jil O’Sulivan of Sparrow and the Workshop, detailing the reconnection of two former lovers. The piano and lyrics result in a rather beautiful finish to the album, especially with the number of break up songs in there.

Although certain tracks imply that Jones is perhaps mourning the passing of the active stage of the band that he founded over fifteen years ago, there is more than enough here to suggest that he and his many fans needn’t worry too much as he’s got more than enough skill and talent to go for many more albums. Overall this is a well constructed debut album from a band (and front man) finding their feet and identity. At points it feels closer to Rod Jones & the Birthday Suit as they were originally billed back in January, rather than The Birthday Suit as they are now, but it’s early days and when it gels it really gels. As mentioned, it is the sort of album that will make die-hard fans of Idlewild very happy with it’s knowing references to some of their finer moments, but also highlights Jones and his band’s talents to show that they are more than just a side project.

If all else fails it’s a fun, agreeable album on which you can tell the musicians are enjoying themselves. Although guys, you don’t need to pull the ‘mysterious band card’ quite so much online.

Chris Grigg