Just two months on from the release of their debut album, The DTEF Queen Is Dead, which lamented the departure of Ms Harvey Dowdy from the University’s Executive Board, James College indie rockers The Jefferies are back again with Severances, Here We Come.

Taking inspiration from the present financial situation at the Uni of York and the voluntary severance scheme, the album consists of ten tracks, which, according to frontman Don Loss, “were all written whilst on the road during our World Tour of Heslington”. It appears the band has taken a much more experimental direction with this record, featuring a range of audio samples, such as the bells of Heslington Hall counting down the hours until the Uni’s bankruptcy, and the ominous hum of the boiler house guzzling through the coffers.

Two of the tracks are in fact written from the perspective of the Vice-Chancellor, Charlie Jeffery. “‘I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish’ is the tormented rambling of the VC as he considers quitting York and relocating to another university”, Loss explains, whilst closing number ‘I Won’t Share You’ is Jeffery’s monologue to the thick wads of cash in his briefcase.

The band plans on releasing ‘A Rush and a Push and the Mumbai Campus is Ours’ and ‘College in a Coma’ as singles in the coming weeks.

First published in Issue 64
Image: Hal Muxlow Fisher