Album review: Beauty School – From Now On

Beauty School were born in Yorkshire, but they were made at Slam Dunk. They’ll be the first to tell you that, especially since the festival’s record label arm is putting out their second record. So indebted they are to the beloved twin-site event that you can practically smell the grass at Temple Newsam when their tender, emo-tinged pop punk blares from the speakers – Slam Dunk-core, perhaps? – and it might set off a craving to be back in a field, pint in hand.

Indeed, their years bouncing about the Leeds scene have all been rolled into a body of work that’s about to burst with the affection they have for this sort of music. The initially gentle opener A Part Of Everything climbs into a heart-swelling climax paying an emotional tribute to songwriter and guitarist Dan Shaw’s late grandparents – ‘In my head you’re not dead / You’re a part of everything,’ is a beautiful central thesis. They dart brightly into the harder-edged yet still spirited sequel track Seeds For The Roses, then into When I’m Feeling Down, a song that makes being morose sound like the sunniest of pastimes in the vein of The Peace And The Panic-era Neck Deep.

Beauty School know their sound well, but it’s one with many different shades. The slightly more abrasive Gloom’s galloping drums could have been exported from the comparatively simpler period of the mid-2010s, while former tourmate Dan Campbell from The Wonder Years slots beautifully into Reaper, a song that does subtly tip its hat to his own band. Fellow LS postcode resident Rae Brazill of Artio lends a sweetly melodic touch to the anthemic Day Of Iva, a lighter tonic between The Fall’s skeletal melancholia and Astel’s sombre, lo-fi balladry.

In fact, Astel may have been a good place to end it, as a record of this sort of ilk perhaps doesn’t need to touch the 50-minute mark. This, however, would be the only complaint. These are big songs made by clearly big-hearted people, channeling big feelings into a medium they cherish – and you’ll cherish them too.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Neck Deep, The Wonder Years, Jimmy Eat World

From Now On is released on October 3 via Slam Dunk