Labels: Seriously Groovy
Review by: Andy Malcolm
This has been out for a few months by all accounts, but it plunked down onto my doormat at some point last week so here is a belated review…
For those unfamiliar, Econoline is a highly enjoyable UK band that churns out decidedly catchy indie rock tunes, next to Pylon they are probably my favourite band doing this thing right now. The title track is by far the best of the 3 on display, rocking a long in an urgent fashion with bouncy drums, subdued vocals and bubbly guitar, spilling emo-pop riffage all over my desk in a rather dirty fashion. It’s “Nothing Feels Good” era Promise Ring making out with earlier Superchunk in a cornfield on a blissful day with not many clothes on. Gotta love the fantastic backing vocals too, that just sorta drift in and out and are barely audible but really add to the whole thing. It’s just a cats whisker over 2 minutes long and I’ve just realised this sounds exactly like the songs on the firstest (and bestest) Beezewax LP. This reminds me of hot summer days getting intentionally lost in a forest in Harlow when I would go and forget about how fucked up everything was and rediscover the will to live again. Brilliant!
The other 2 songs are a mild let down after that, but they are solid. “Too Much Sleep” is slower and more subtle, and really reminds me of something that I can’t quite place my finger on. Probably some record I haven’t listened to in 3 years. Pretty solid. “YourName” (ooh, no space, must be emo) brings back the bounce but not quite as spectacularly as the first track. Again it is fun and nice and has good riffage. Ian sings good.
Emo-noline. Ha ha. Quality. Relive the music of the late 90’s. Done well. Nice one. Look out for their album of Jimmy Eat World covers coming soon.