À la recherche du temps perdu. No, I’m not talking about French writer Marcel Proust’s master piece. However these French words describe perfectly what The Rumjacks are doing: catch up. The Sydney based band was forced to go on hiatus for a while and once Frankie was on board again, they have developed a couple of albums in a row.

“Sleepin’ Rough” follows the path of their previous album “Sober & Godless”. Their powerful sound based on tin whistle and/or mandolin can be found on a bunch of crowd favourite numbers:  the opening track “Patron Saints o’ Thieves”; the single “A fistful o’ Roses” where The Pogues influence can be noticed; the fast-paced anthem “Zielona Gora”; and “Fact’ry Jack”,a rocking number with a The Clash twist.

After that number, the album flows on a different direction, as several ballads/slower number are delivered. “Eight Beers’ McGee” has a catchy tin whistle part and a kick-ass vocal performance by Frankie; “Murder Shanty” is a darker number showcasing a traditional sounding tin whistle tune; and “Les Darcy” is probably more “simple” than the previous songs, but it features an interesting banjo part towards the end.

The last part of the album differs from the first one (classic Rumjacks sound) and the second one (ballads). The beginning of this third part is very energetic: a 59 seconds mandolin driven hardcore number titled “Dead to Me”. The following song is the usual Caribbean number on a Rumjacks album: “Kathleen”. The level goes higher with “WKND (Flash New Breeks)”, featuring accordion, and “The Pot & The Kettle”, where the band showcase again their distinctive sound that fans around the globe love. Between them, another slower number called “Them Fallen”, featuring small pipes, that reminds me of Happy Ol’ McWeasel “Heard Ya Say!” album.

“Sleepin’ Rough” has been released by Four Four Music, a label from Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It comes on a 4 panel digipack with a 28 page booklet. A lot of pics can be found on the booklet together with the lyrics to all of the songs, studio credits, songs credits, line-up and thank you section. IMHO, there are a couple of minor “flaws”. First of all, there is no mention to who plays pipes and accordion (In fact, Frankie plays those instruments apart from guitars, tin whistle and bodhrán). Secondly, the booklet is black and the lyrics are printed in grey, so it’s a little bit difficult to read them.

After a “never ending” European tour and a new album, it’s clear that The Rumjacks are one of the Top4 Celtic punk bands in the world together with Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly and The Real McKenzies.

Track Listing:

1. Patron Saint o’ thieves
2. Zielona Gora
3. A Fistful O’ Roses
4. Fact’ry Jack
5. ‘Eight Beers’ McGee
6. Murder Shanty
7. Les Darcy
8. Dead To Me
9. WKND (flash new breeks)
10. Kathleen
11. Them Fallen
12. The Pot & Kettle

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Review by Kinksmarkham