Reverend and the Makers on track for a first Top 10 album in 16-years

Sheffield’s Reverend and the Makers released their highly anticipated seventh studio album ‘Heatwave In The Cold North’ on April 28, 2023.

With an unbroken run of 6 Top 20 albums to date, the band's seventh offering ‘Heatwave In The Cold North’ looks likely to follow the success of previous releases. It may well find itself placed in the top 10, a first to do so since their debut 16 years ago.

When speaking on the album, Jon described it as “the best thing we’ve ever done.” A fact that was clearly evidenced in the recent track-by-track breakdown of Heatwave In The Cold North we published last week, where it was posited that:

"It goes without saying that the Reverend and the Makers seventh LP shakes off any possible misconceptions of what pop music is or isn’t... with a growing ambition, uncompromising truth, introspective swagger and creative liberation.”

The band’s seventh LP opens with the opening song of the album shares it’s name with the album’s title, Heatwave In The Cold North. A decidedly seductive affair, best described as a hazy sun-drenched Barry White-inspired soulful bop of a tune. It’s quite fitting that upon release it was also their biggest hit in over a decade, one which saw it being added to BBCs Radio 2’s B List and also named Record of the Week.

Next up was the single, High, which I’d described in my album review as “an ode to perhaps a drug-infused escapism as a means of leaving all of the world's problems behind.”

Listen to the full interview with The Reverend on the Chris Talks Music podcast, you can sign up to receive all episodes of the podcast at: https://anchor.fm/chris-talks-music

This was followed by the catchy ear-worm single Problems, before the fourth and final single A Letter To My 21 Year Old Self. Ahead of this single’s release, Jon had also launched a campaign for fans to send in a letter that they’d written to their own 21 Year Old Selves. These submissions formed part of a pop-up exhibition/ mass therapy session in Fagans Pub, Sheffield, and also gave locals the chance to come along and meet Jon, as well as experiencing an exclusive listen of the album ahead of release — while also having a pint with the front man.The band recently announced a four-day pop-up shop in Meadowhall to coincide with the release, on top of this promotional run. The Reverend and the Makers have also announced a 17 date acoustic UK tour to be played this summer featuring lead singer Jon MClure and guitarist Ed Cosens. The shows will run from 8th June until 19th July and will see them hit venues in Wrexham, Worthing, Bristol, London, Tunbridge, Norwich, Margate, Hertford, St Albans, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Stockton, Sunderland, Hull, York & Lincoln. Tickets are on sale now. See here for more info.

Heatwave In The Cold North is out now.