Labels: self released
Review by: Andy Malcolm
I was pretty chuffed to get sent this for review, as maybe folk in cool bands are starting to realise it’s worth sending things to get written about at Collective, instead of us getting bombarded with utter dross from UK indie chancers who fancy being the next Snow Patrol or whatnot. Touch Committee is a bunch of dudes from way out western USA playing happy go lucky indie rock, getting you off on the right track (haha) with the excellent opener “Sunshine Suit” which wastes no time in making sure you know what to expect. Hand claps, a catchy tune and a great bounce. I think this is kind of like how the Get Up Kids would have sounded if they had really decided that being influenced by Superchunk was their main goal in life instead of just pretending.
It takes a little while before Touch Committee hit the heights of that opener again, they have a couple of tracks sprinkled in that are less catchy and instantly enjoyable, maybe rocking out a bit more, hitting a tighter groove instead of a sky high melody that lodges itself in the brain. That’s not to say those songs are bad, just not as instantly memorable. Mid-paced, with a little mid-west emo flavour in the guitars, gently twiddling with slack vocals drawling over the top. “Blue Grass” gets back on the poppier bicycle and rides it off into the sunset. The vocals suddenly get high pitched and whiney, it works so well that I can certainly say TC are at their best when belting things out at a right rate, getting their wild on and generally being rad. That’s not to say the slower, more introspective stuff is a write off, it just doesn’t quite have the same accomplished feel. I am fairly certain this will come in the future, probably to the point where I will complain about the upbeat stuff on the next album. Stuff like “Young Turks” which spirals around grumpily in a hefty post-hardcore fashion that brings to mind the Farewell Bend, which was not something you would anticipate on hearing the opening track on this CD.
So these guys are on the right track, plus they sent me a lovely letter with the CD. Turns out that one chap was in Under A Dying Sun, who disappeared quite some time ago. This is a good, solid album of indie rock tunes that takes plenty of influence from various bands from the 1990s yet still manages to deliver something fresh. It’s not quite the finished article, lacking a little focus and flow and perhaps a touch too long, but there is a lot to like if you enjoy the same sort of bands as me.