Labels: flame shovel
Review by: Andy Malcolm
In an era where indie rock is plumbing the depths of the Arcade Fire and other depressing mediocrity, I am willing to give a half chance to any band that gives a fleeting glance of quality, even one with as terrible name as Chin Up Chin Up. Actually, normally I wouldn’t even go near a band with a name as bad as this, but I must have been vulnerable, desperate for new music and hence I coughed up the bones on the off-chance that it’d be something special. Well, this album is solid. It is nothing special, but it is quite listenable, and more intriguing than the vast majority of late-first-decade-of-the-21st-century (not quite as catchy as mid 90s I guess) indie rock. The music is perhaps leaning a little towards trendiness with it’s post-punk stylings, fairly stark guitars and that bass rhythm that so many bands of this ilk perpetuate, but I still find myself drawn back. For starters, the singer sounds like he has hung out with Eric Bachmann and recorded a conversation with him (My name is Werner Brandes, my voice is my passport, verify me), whilst getting members of Meneguar to play guitar and other instruments in the background in a slightly more subdued fashion than they’d normally do. That’s a perfectly acceptable combination if you ask me. They also have a slight electro bent at times, keyboard may not be my number one instrument of all time but Chin Up Chin Up utilise it quite well, and certainly it is not as offputting as I’d expect it to be.
So what you have overall is some decidely solid indie rock. It’s not up there with your Meneguar’s or your Wrens’, but it is a cut above your bog standard dullards, and they crank out some good tunes. You could do better, but you could also do a heck of a lot worse.