The Crooks don’t merely capture their explosive live sound on Hypercell — they bottle the electricity, tension and beautiful chaos of a band hitting its peak.
Having surpassed five million Spotify streams, the Chesterfield five-piece underline exactly why they are one of the best emerging bands around.
Speaking on the ThisIsTheMusic Meets Podcast, frontman Jacko revealed that the band approached the seven-track EP as though they were making an album. That ambition can be heard in its pacing and dynamics. There are immediate, full-throttle indie anthems, but also more measured moments in which atmosphere, vulnerability and storytelling are given space to breathe.
Recorded live in Glasgow with producer Chris Marshall, Hypercell attempts to preserve the physical force of The Crooks in full flight. Drums land with a natural, room-filling thump, guitars bleed into one another and the vocals are allowed to strain, crack and rise above the noise. Marshall’s production gives every instrument space to breathe while retaining the raw energy and power of the band’s live performances.
1. Madness
Hypercell announces itself through two-and-a-half minutes of controlled chaos. “Madness” is a compact, high-velocity opener propelled by urgent guitars, pounding drums and a vocal performance permanently threatening to fly off the rails.
The opening riff immediately sets the record’s tone: jagged, tightly wound and built to generate movement. Rather than waiting for the chorus to deliver the payoff, the entire song feels like one prolonged release of pressure. The rhythm section drives forward relentlessly, with the bass adding muscle beneath guitars that alternate between thick power chords and sharper, more abrasive flashes.
At the centre is Jacko’s vocal. There is melody in the delivery, but also desperation; words are pushed out as if holding them back is no longer an option. The rougher edges left around the performance are crucial. You can hear the breath, strain and adrenaline, reinforcing the sensation that the band are playing directly in front of you.
The chorus widens without sacrificing speed, transforming the track’s anxiety into something made to be shouted collectively. It is a breathless opening statement and an immediate demonstration of why recording the band live was the correct decision.
2. What You Know
Originally released in 2024, “What You Know” has been re-recorded for Hypercell, allowing an established Crooks favourite to be brought into the sonic world of the new EP.
This version feels broader, heavier and more physical. The guitars possess greater depth, while the drums cut through with the force of a live performance rather than simply maintaining the song’s tempo. There is an appealing push and pull between the tightly clipped verses and the release provided by its soaring chorus.
The vocal melody remains instantly accessible, but the delivery carries added confidence and weight. Restraint gives way to full-throated conviction, with the entire band rising naturally into the chorus rather than relying upon an obvious studio-assisted gear change.
Importantly, this does not sound like an old song inserted to extend the track listing. Re-recording it gives “What You Know” a renewed purpose: it becomes a bridge between the band The Crooks were in 2024 and the more muscular, assured outfit captured throughout Hypercell. Familiar foundations remain, but everything now hits harder.
3. Always
If “Madness” captures The Crooks at their most chaotic, “Always” reveals how effectively the entire band can channel that energy into something more melodic.
A pulsing, almost electronic undercurrent gives the song a different texture from the opening pair. The guitars remain prominent, but they are used with greater restraint during the verses, leaving space for the rhythm section and vocal melody to take control. That decision makes the arrival of the chorus feel enormous.
The opening passages carry a reflective quality, holding something in reserve as the arrangement steadily gathers momentum. When the chorus breaks, that tension is transformed into an open-hearted indie-rock refrain designed for packed rooms and raised voices. Guitars stretch across the mix, cymbals crash and the backing vocals increase its communal pull.
There is real craft beneath the song’s immediacy. Its hooks are clean and direct, yet the live production prevents them from becoming overly pristine. The drums retain their natural punch, while the slight roughness around the guitars adds urgency. “Always” is The Crooks at their most expansive: emotionally direct, melodically confident and capable of turning private feeling into a widescreen anthem.
4. Mesmerise Me
“Mesmerise Me” changes the temperature of the record. Where the first three tracks charge forward, this is more seductive and rhythmically measured, allowing tension to develop inside the spaces between the instruments.
The guitars shimmer and circle around the vocals rather than immediately overwhelming them. There is a hypnotic quality to the central pattern, reinforced by a bassline that provides movement without forcing the song into another headlong sprint. The drums sit deeper in the groove, giving the track a loose, late-night swagger.
The vocal is more controlled here, carrying longing alongside the sense of fixation suggested by the title. As the arrangement develops, that restraint begins to fracture. The guitars grow more insistent, the percussion becomes heavier and the melody rises, turning fascination into something closer to emotional surrender.
Its position at the end of the EP’s first half is important. “Mesmerise Me” proves that The Crooks’ live power is not dependent entirely upon volume or speed. Here, the intensity is found in repetition, atmosphere and gradual escalation. It is a slow-burning track whose pull becomes stronger with each return to the central hook.
5. The Lines
“The Lines” opens the second half by bringing darkness back to the foreground. Its guitars feel heavier and more imposing, while the rhythm section establishes a brooding sense of forward motion.
Rather than exploding immediately, the track builds pressure through its verses. The bass carries a significant amount of the tension, locking closely with the drums as shards of guitar emerge from the edges of the arrangement. There is a more confrontational character to the vocals, as though every line is being drawn from a conversation that has already reached breaking point.
The chorus provides scale without offering complete relief. Its melody rises, but the weight underneath it remains, creating one of the EP’s most compelling contrasts. The Crooks sound anthemic and uneasy at the same time: a band reaching for a huge communal moment while refusing to smooth out the emotions driving it.
As the song progresses, the different guitar parts begin to overlap, building into a dense, turbulent wall of sound. Marshall’s production keeps each element discernible, but the performance retains the feeling of a room becoming steadily louder. “The Lines” is less instantly celebratory than the opening tracks, yet its tension gives Hypercell some necessary emotional depth.
6. In The Meantime
The second song revisited from 2024, “In The Meantime” benefits enormously from the EP’s live-recording approach. The original song’s restless character remains, but this new version sounds fuller, more urgent and considerably closer to how The Crooks deliver it onstage.
Its opening creates a brief pocket of anticipation before the entire band locks into place. The guitars have a rawer edge, with ringing chords and distorted accents working around a propulsive rhythm section. The bass is particularly important, adding movement beneath a song concerned with uncertainty and a lack of time to make sense of what is happening.
The vocals capture that unsettled feeling, pushing harder as the guitars and drums gather force. Repeated phrases develop into something communal, turning private confusion into a chorus that an audience can claim as its own.
The re-recording does not radically dismantle the song. Its strength lies in making the original intent feel more immediate. This is “In The Meantime” with the distance removed: louder, more human and carrying the accumulated confidence of two further years spent performing and developing together.
7. High Horse
After an EP packed with momentum, “High Horse” closes proceedings by slowing the pulse and delivering its most emotionally exposed moment.
Written as an attempt to give a voice to those who feel unheard, the track begins with a palpable sense of isolation. The arrangement is deliberately spacious, giving the story room to breathe. The quieter passages expose a rare fragility, making every subsequent rise in intensity feel earned.
The guitars initially provide colour rather than attack, adding atmospheric lines before gradually thickening. Drums enter with patience, emphasising the emotional turns instead of forcing the song forward. As the instrumental layers accumulate, “High Horse” grows from an intimate confession into a towering finale.
Crucially, the band resist rushing towards the payoff. At more than four minutes, it is the EP’s longest track, and that additional space allows the emotion to build. By its closing stretch, guitars are surging, cymbals are crashing and the entire band sound as though they are pouring everything into one final release. The result is cathartic without becoming sentimental.
“High Horse” does not merely conclude Hypercell; it reframes it. After the bravado, velocity and enormous choruses, The Crooks leave the listener with vulnerability. It is the record’s “absolute crier” and arguably its most important song.
Hypercell captures a band who understand that live energy is about more than simply playing loudly. It is found in the interaction between musicians, the strain inside a vocal and the moment a carefully restrained arrangement finally breaks open.
Five million Spotify streams may underline how far The Crooks have already travelled, but Hypercell feels like the beginning of something much bigger. Urgent, ambitious and alive with the electricity of five musicians playing at full force, it is the sound of a band stepping beyond emerging status and making an emphatic claim for the main stage. The Crooks have bottled lightning — now it is only a matter of time before everybody feels the shock.
Hypercell is out now on streaming platforms and available as a physical release.
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