“Set Me Free”

“Brunkpocket’s Lament”

“Who Needs the Sunshine?”

A maniacal image of Samuel L. Jackson orating Ezekiel 25:17 to a stunned and shaking, wayward disciple of Marcellus Wallace comes to mind when first reading the title to the Heavy’s debut, Great Vengeance and Furious Fire. But after hearing the album, it feels a bit more like Jackie Brown (maybe they should’ve called it, I Didn’t Hear You Wash Yr Hands). With a band that is self-described as “heavy as fuck,” seeing their ’70s porno-meets-typography-setter’s-wet-dream-artwork, one still doesn’t quite get the whole idea of what exactly these guys are about. That’s good, because all of the aforementioned intrigues like mad. Kelvin Swaby, lead singer and songwriter for the band, snarls with a confidence and swagger that is hard-matched against the shrugging, scoliosis-prone indie runts heard alongside him on his native England’s Radio 1.

The mash-up of rock, funk, soul and heat can be attributed to the band’s variant roots. Swaby was born in Jamaica, and his was one of the first West Indian families to move to the Bath countryside. Dan Taylor, his childhood friend, was a rhythm-and-blues fan to the core. Adding later Ellul (drums) and Page (bass) as their rhythm section, and sexing-up the aesthetic with the sultry voice of Little Hannah Collins, the Heavy came to be, in a mean way.

Tracks like the swelling “That Kind of Man”, and the filthy, horny head-bopper “Girl” (including blush-worthy lyrics like “the two of us laid on a bed, somewhere in Greece and you’re so wet”), alongside palpable rockers like “In the Morning,” caught the keen attention of publicity-company-turned-record-label +1, who’s releasing the band’s debut stateside in May. The tunes also made their way to the collective, eager ears of those at Playboy, who’ve chosen them to participate in their “Rock the Rabbit” music initiative. The band’s T-shirt designed for the program to benefit “Rock the Vote” also ended up being worn by childhood hero Iggy Pop, captured in the magazine by legendary photographer Mick Rock. Not bad for a couple of kids from Bath.

With the revivalist soul movement on the rise—as Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings headline New York’s Beacon Theatre, and Amy Winehouse overloaded with Grammy nominations—the Heavy are comin’ up, putting their own spin on the genre, and creating the all-new rock ‘n’ soul.