Labels: Plan-It-X
Review by: Andy Malcolm
I’d picked up a couple of earlier releases from this band last year, and enjoyed them, so was quite keen to hear their first full release, this being on Plan-It-X. Plan-It-X is not a label I normally associate with bands I enjoy, so I had a slight trepidation in this, but once the first song kicked in all concerns were quickly eroded. The guitars jangle in gently, with a warm and bubbly bass line to usher things along, before the song builds up to rock just a tiny bit more. The vocals have a slightly off-key / quirky feel, and switch well between urgent and passive, which always goes down well with me. Damn fine way to open a CD if you ask me. At this point I have to start racking my brains to figure out who I can compare it to. You don’t tend to hear this kind of indie rock very often. It has very slight indie / emo tinges in the guitars at times, meaning that the best I can come up with is something like the Weakerthans crossed with the Promise Ring or Superchunk, which really should be a combo that appeals to anyone who likes a bit of melody on their stereo. It’s those little flavours from the late 90s that really elevate this above a lot of the other more standard indie rock albums you’ll come across, and at the same time somehow they also give it a fresh sound. This genuinely is different to almost anything else I have heard in the past 3 or 4 years, which is something that you just don’t get to say very often when reviewing indie rock records. Lyrically the band deals with the personal and the political, which is part of what engenders the Weakerthans comparison. If you’re the kind of person who pays more than a cursory glance to the lyric sheet, then this aspect of the band should please you too.
This is a really good album, my expectations were easily exceeded and I am left with the feeling that this is one of the best albums of the year so far.