Labels: EDILS Records
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Man, I was convinced I had reviewed this. I think I maybe did, and accidentally deleted the result. Sorry to all involved as I promised this review a long long time ago. Ok. Maybe I deleted it because the guy from Rhodes told me (and I paraphrase substantially here) “DON’T YOU DARE FUCKING WRITE THAT WE SOUND LIKE A KINSELLA”. Hey Jon, any chance of those reviews?
Moonlit Sailor open this little EP with a little post rock. Post rock is everywhere now, sound tracking the most bog standard of BBC docu-dramas, e.g. some day time thing about a zoo, and the giraffe breaks its leg, and nobody thinks the giraffe will ever walk again, and then right at the end of the programme, they open the door, and the giraffe walks out into the sun rise, and post rock is playing, and you’re in floods of tears, despite yourself. That’s post rock. Moonlit Sailor sound like their song could soundtrack images of a giraffe who learned to walk again.
Then Rhodes and Elk trade tracks, brawling, rolling with the punches. Rhodes play nice and gentle indie rock, with twinkly bits. The regular reference these days is American Football, I honestly do not know why so many bands want to sound like that, as awesome as American Football are, I don’t get it. Anyway, I do like what Rhodes are up to, just to appease them I am going to compare them to Very Secretary, because anyone who ever bothered listening to this kind of music knows that Very Secretary were the first band to sound like this. The second song is instrumental, which is a bit of a shame, as I liked the vocals on the other song they contribute.
On “Reading Habits” Elk do some post punk with the expected rhythms that UK based post-punk bands tend to play. It’s mixed up with some other influences that I am unable to place. I can’t really say that this is my sort of thing, it’s probably influenced by a lot of Dischord bands that I never got round to listening to or simply never liked. However, “Reading Habits” does feature a rather catchy chorus that burrows it’s way into your head, they manage to bring enough of a pop element to the music to make it interesting to me. “First Love” changes the pace, going glacial, but they spoil it somewhat by screeching the guitars noisily here and there. Get your grit out of my pretty. It has violin, so I am going to mention Very Secretary again. This is the best song on the CD for me.
Overall, a nice introduction to 3 different bands, doing different things, which is fine by me.