Labels: Arctic Rodeo – DeSoto
Review by: Alex Deller
Had a bit of a funny time with Burning Airlines to start with. Main problem, of course, was that they weren’t Jawbox. Always a bummer, that. After that initial hump I dug ‘Mission: Control’ some and considered its follow-up, ‘Identikit’, to be an almighty let-down. Zip forward more years than I’d care to remember and Arctic Rodeo have plonked both albums on vinyl for the first time. Me being me (that is, a sad twat) I ordered a copy of each, just in case my feelings toward this latter album had improved any. Seems they have, because like a right contrary fucker I’m now enjoying this one far more than the debut. It’s a spry, spiky and altogether rollicking burst of post-hardcore that’s still sounding pretty darn fresh despite being 12 years old, comprising bright, chiming chords, spidering, sideways licks and J. Robbins’ unmistakeable I-sound-kinda-bored-but-deep-down-I’m-enjoying-it vocals. Opener ‘Outside The Aviary’ is hard to beat with its cheery woo-oo-oos while ‘Election Night Special’ bounces amiably along and ‘Dear Hilary’ is both weirdly great and weirdly sad, an off-kilter vignette that closed the original album but has since been usurped by bonus track ‘Action’. It’s a darn good album, and one that I’m glad to have had the chance to reappraise. Kudos to the label for resurrecting it, and also for not skimping on the typically-fiddly Jason Farrell design job, which means it looks as well as sounds awesome.