Ah, The Wedding Present. Or David Gedge and some guys. I can’t claim to be one of those veterans who was into this band the first time around, but having stumbled into those highly excellent (and seemingly influential) records over the years, I feel just about able to scribe a review of their latest record with enough background knowledge to not screw it up entirely. I am quite pleased in fact that the C finally has a WP review online, given that traces of their sound can be found in so much of the music I enjoy.
“El Rey” trumpets itself as the first WP album to be recorded by that Steve Albino guy since Seamonsters. I think this is the record labels half hearted attempt to get people to buy it based on past glories. Do not expect past glories on this record. “El Rey” is a good album, but it lacks the special edge that earlier WP work displays. That is not really a criticism, more of an observation. The guitars buzz and chime nicely, Gedge’s vocals wander along over the top and it’s a version of indie rock that I am highly tolerable of. Gedge is alarmingly 48 now (which probably pegs your average WP fan as in their late 30s, early 40s), but lyrically from what I can glean (no lyrics are printed) he sometimes still appears to be in his 20s. This gives me great hope. I am lacking the requisite maturity gene to progress and grow up or listen to something other than guitar music of this fashion. WP are adept at pleasant, twinkly guitar parts that infected the 1990s US indie rock scene, I am uncertain as to the level of influence that WP had but on this record there are a few perfect moments that recall Superchunk or the Promise Ring, when really it could only ever be the other way round. “I Lost the Monkey” in particular is a stand out track for me. And the intro to “The Thing I LIke Best About Him Is His Girlfriend” could have been heard on any number of mid 90s indie / emo bands 7″ that I go ga-ga about.
I noticed that although the album isn’t released on vinyl, they did insert some crackles on one track, a trick surely designed to appeal to the aging indie rocker. This is a good album. It’s not a classic album. But it has plenty of decent tunes. If you already liked the Wedding Present, you should like this. If you enjoy Superchunk after they swapped blitzkrieg for song-writing, you should like this. If you have abandoned all hope and figure you can relate to a bunch of guys playing traditional indie rock whilst Gedge is singing about how he fucks everything up (amongst other things), then you will definitely like this. I tick all these boxes. Case closed.