{"id":1167,"date":"2017-09-21T12:00:16","date_gmt":"2017-09-21T12:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-enter-shikari-the-spark\/"},"modified":"2023-01-17T17:49:13","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T17:49:13","slug":"review-enter-shikari-the-spark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-enter-shikari-the-spark\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Enter Shikari – The Spark"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n

\u201cNo more self-indulgence. We\u2019re coming for you narcissistic pop. We will replace you,\u201d<\/i> a frustrated Rou Reynolds tweeted last November. Donald Trump had just been elected President of the USA, causing the Enter Shikari<\/b><\/a> frontman to express his anger with the lack of pop icons using their platform to promote the ideals of tolerance and unity that have been paramount to his own music since they released \u2018Take To the Skies\u2019<\/i>, ten years ago.<\/p>\n

Rather than waiting for a bigger star to spread the message, Enter Shikari<\/b> have no choice but to become the stars themselves, thus bringing us to \u2018The Spark.\u2019<\/i> Because here Rou and co aren\u2019t allowing themselves to indulge either, as they trim their brash hardcore influences in favour of a gleaming production and an arena-filling refinement.<\/p>\n

From the energetic calls of \u201care you staying awake for the lift off tonight?\u201d<\/i> on opener \u2018The Sights\u2019<\/i>, one can quickly identify a wide-eyed excitement from Shikari<\/b> towards a more instantaneous songwriting approach. Even the band\u2019s \u201cwoah-oh-oh-oh\u201d<\/i> backing vocals during the pre-choruses provide bursts of joy that are impossible not to admire. Following up with lead single \u2018Live Outside\u2019<\/i>, a deceptively uplifting synth rock banger, the seeds are fully sewn for their pop infiltration.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Naturally, the group\u2019s political and social commentary is unleashed across \u2018The Spark\u2019<\/i>, as the frantic \u2018Take My Country Back\u2019s\u2019<\/i> message of \u201cDon\u2019t wanna take my country back, I wanna take my country forward\u201d<\/i> sums up the band\u2019s pro-union sentiment. Elsewhere, the Clash-channeling \u2018Revolt of the Atoms\u2019<\/i> is a protest against London transforming into an \u201cancient Athens\u201d<\/i> for society\u2019s wealthiest. The most surprising lyrical target on \u2018The Spark\u2019<\/i> is Rou himself, who turns his struggles with anxiety and depression into beacons of hope on \u2018Airfield\u2019<\/i> and \u2018An Ode to Lost Jigsaw Pieces\u2019<\/i>.<\/p>\n

So, will \u2018The Spark\u2019<\/i> replace \u2018narcissistic pop\u2019<\/i> music like Rou said it would? With tracks like \u2018Shinrin-You\u2019<\/i> and \u2018Undercover Agents\u2019<\/i> testing listeners patience before inspiring anyone, and \u2018Rabble Rouser\u2019<\/i> recalling indie ravers Does It Offend You, Yeah? more than anything innovative, it\u2019s not the complete takeover they were hoping for. However, there is enough ambition and grandeur fuelling this record that is sure to elevate Enter Shikari<\/b> to the same playing field as pop\u2019s biggest stars. Then the takeover can begin.<\/p>\n

3.5\/5<\/p>\n

\u2018The Spark\u2019<\/i> by Enter Shikari<\/b> is released on 22nd September on PIAS<\/b>\/Ambush Reality<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Enter Shikari<\/b> links: Website<\/a>|Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a>|Instagram<\/a>|YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Andy Davidson (@AndyrfDavidson<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cNo more self-indulgence. We\u2019re coming for you narcissistic pop. We will replace you,\u201d a frustrated Rou Reynolds tweeted last November. Donald Trump had just been elected President of the USA, causing the Enter Shikari frontman to express his anger with the lack of pop icons using their platform to promote the ideals of tolerance and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":16648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[967,15033,15021,491,966,965],"class_list":["post-1167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-ambush-reality","tag-andrew-davidson","tag-andy-davidson","tag-enter-shikari","tag-pias","tag-the-spark"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReview: Enter Shikari - The Spark - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cNo more self-indulgence. We\u2019re coming for you narcissistic pop. We will replace you,\u201d a frustrated Rou Reynolds tweeted last November. Donald Trump had\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review: Enter Shikari - The Spark - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cNo more self-indulgence. We\u2019re coming for you narcissistic pop. We will replace you,\u201d a frustrated Rou Reynolds tweeted last November. Donald Trump had\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-enter-shikari-the-spark\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-21T12:00:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-17T17:49:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so1_r116_1280.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andrew Davidson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andrew Davidson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review: Enter Shikari - The Spark - Already Heard Staging","description":"\u201cNo more self-indulgence. We\u2019re coming for you narcissistic pop. We will replace you,\u201d a frustrated Rou Reynolds tweeted last November. Donald Trump had","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Review: Enter Shikari - The Spark - Already Heard Staging","og_description":"\u201cNo more self-indulgence. We\u2019re coming for you narcissistic pop. We will replace you,\u201d a frustrated Rou Reynolds tweeted last November. Donald Trump had","og_url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-enter-shikari-the-spark\/","og_site_name":"Already Heard Staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","article_published_time":"2017-09-21T12:00:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-01-17T17:49:13+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so1_r116_1280.jpg","width":1,"height":1,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Andrew Davidson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_site":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andrew Davidson","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-enter-shikari-the-spark\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-enter-shikari-the-spark\/"},"author":{"name":"Andrew Davidson","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/e32d2500b34afa459324477cb4410353"},"headline":"Review: Enter Shikari – The Spark","datePublished":"2017-09-21T12:00:16+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-17T17:49:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-enter-shikari-the-spark\/"},"wordCount":419,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-enter-shikari-the-spark\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so1_r116_1280.jpg","keywords":["Ambush Reality","Andrew Davidson","Andy Davidson","Enter Shikari","PIAS","The Spark"],"articleSection":["Album Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-enter-shikari-the-spark\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-enter-shikari-the-spark\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-enter-shikari-the-spark\/","name":"Review: Enter Shikari - The Spark - Already Heard Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-enter-shikari-the-spark\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-enter-shikari-the-spark\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so1_r116_1280.jpg","datePublished":"2017-09-21T12:00:16+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-17T17:49:13+00:00","description":"\u201cNo more self-indulgence. We\u2019re coming for you narcissistic pop. We will replace you,\u201d a frustrated Rou Reynolds tweeted last November. Donald Trump had","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-enter-shikari-the-spark\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-enter-shikari-the-spark\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so1_r116_1280.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so1_r116_1280.jpg"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","name":"Already Heard Staging","description":"Covering the best in alternative music as best as we can","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization","name":"Already Heard","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"Already Heard"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","https:\/\/x.com\/alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alreadyheard\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/already-heard\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/AlreadyHeardMusic","https:\/\/tiktok.com\/@alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@alreadyheard"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/e32d2500b34afa459324477cb4410353","name":"Andrew Davidson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b774e73ef804d6bb950dfb8ec4e94556e9d5d7e5ca82ec6c7b1a459877d2ea5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b774e73ef804d6bb950dfb8ec4e94556e9d5d7e5ca82ec6c7b1a459877d2ea5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b774e73ef804d6bb950dfb8ec4e94556e9d5d7e5ca82ec6c7b1a459877d2ea5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Andrew Davidson"},"description":"This is for the hearts still beating","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/author\/andrewdavidson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1167"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91930,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167\/revisions\/91930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}