Labels: Polyvinyl
Review by: Dan Bennett
The “Joan Of Arc Presents”¦” series is starting to become a brand of it’s own as of late. We’ve already had “Joan Of Arc Presents”¦ Guitar Duets” and “Joan Of Arc Presents”¦ Orchard Vale” and now we have “Joan Of Arc Presents”¦ Don’t Mind Control”. The album is collection of 18 songs authored and performed by a collective of 41+ musicians, and whilst the band don’t appear as Joan Of Arc on the album, all musicians on these recordings have been involved in an incarnation of Joan Of Arc at some point.
It also signals the first sign of new material from the newly reformed (and also once again defunct) Ghosts & Vodka, it’s just a shame that the song is definitely one of the weaker tracks on the album. It opens with a riff that could easily be on “Of Course” by Make Believe but sadly descends into an unorchestrated mess that never really seems to take advantage of it’s full potential.
The album’s main surprise was that the bands unknown to me (Pillars & Tongues, Disappears, Birdshow, The Cairo Gang to name a few) seem to be the highlight of the album, massively overshadowing the larger bands featured here.
Of the already well established bands on this comp, Euphone offer the best track in my opinion, with “Friend In Common” an upbeat, very 60’s sounding janglefest that also features Tim Kinsella on vocals.
Overall, don’t go into this expecting anything amazing from the bands you already know about, instead take it as a welcome introduction to the lesser known bands featured and check out their back catalogue.
There’s something for most people here, including glitchy electronica (Litesalive), feedback drenched rock and roll (Disappears) and a bit of white noise (White/Light).