Last August, Reverend & The Makers played to 30,000 people at Sheffield’s Rock N Roll Circus. Two decades in, a hometown show of that scale is either a victory lap or a launchpad — and given what Is This How Happiness Feels? sounds like, it’s very much the latter.
Out 8th May on Distiller Records, the Sheffield five-piece’s eighth studio album is described by frontman Jon McClure as easily the best thing they’ve ever done. Coming from someone with seven consecutive Top 20 albums behind him — including 2023’s Heatwave In The Cold North which hit number six on the Official Charts — that’s not a claim made lightly.
“This album has been a labour of love owing to personal reasons but has emerged as a joyous triumph,” he says. “It will surprise a few people too.”
Produced by Danny Lafrombé and McClure himself, the thirteen-track record merges vintage, life-affirming soul with sharp, contemporary lyrical storytelling — McClure at his most open and vulnerable, the band pushing their sound forward with real confidence. It’s the kind of record that sounds like it was made by people who had something to say and the experience to say it properly.
Previously released singles Late Night Phone Call, UFO and Twenty-Seven Past Midnight have already set the tone, alongside Haircut — a track featuring Vicky McClure that showcases the album’s warmer, more expansive side. Together they paint a picture of a record that doesn’t sound like a band treading water, but one actively reaching for something new.
Reverend & The Makers are Jon McClure on lead vocals, Thomas Dibb on guitar, Laura McClure on keys and vocals, Antonia Pooles on bass, and Adam Crofts on drums. A thirteen-date UK tour follows in November — full dates and ticket info in our tour piece.
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