Review Summary: Learn up, kids!
Rarely does anything of this sort come along. A Post-Punk record performed in the best traditions of the genre’s golden age, but still having that modern youthful attitude to it. And when I say “golden age” I don’t mean the countless tuned down Echo & the Cure Division rip-offs, I mean that coarse, non-melodic, methodical slow-burner that is designed to challenge with its unexpected instrumentation and production.
Just listen to the opener “Laughing at the System, Pt. 1” and tell me that you can’t see this being played on the same retro compilation with Essendon Airport or Lydia Lunch. It’s that pure rhythmic part of Post-Punk, whose style was so off-colour and obscure that your pretend-depressed friends with the Smiths tee made sink into oblivion in the 80s. But now it’s back.
But don’t you worry, the album does have some niceness to it too. Right the following song, “Future Crème”, while definitely an odd track, is still much more tuneful and playful than its predecessor. However, as the third track, “Vanity”, kicks in, you can start noticing that this might not be an entirely cohesive experience. “Vanity” is a bit more Punky song, it’s gradually intensifying and atmospheric. That already should tell you that the band doesn’t want to simply make an homage album to the good old days of off-the-wall experimental music, they want to dip their toes into all of the directions old Post-Punk and its like-minded contemporaries did.
For that reason the short tracklist consists of eight two-minute tracks that are: a glitchy detour (“Laughing at the System, Pt. 1”), then a tuneful cut (“Future Crème”), then something more traditional and upfront (“Vanity”), then an electronic oddment (“Vote Cops”), then a near-cosmic New Wavy prettiness (“Her Majesty, Budgie”), a Lo-Fi ballad (“Luxury Vacuum”), an utterly experimental meditations (“Cathie and Marg”) and finally a straightforward Punk rage (“Laughing at the System, Pt. 2”). At some point a question arises: Is this a clever homage or just a directionless rehash?
Sure, the band does do all of its sounds justice and they show a great deal of appreciation for the styles they so clearly wish to have been around to witness, but some sort of structure would have helped. But still, will I be damned if “Her Majesty, Budgie” isn’t a gorgeous little track. And hearing all of those sounds clashing together in a nostalgic blast did bring a tear to my eye. So if you appreciate the old-school, do give this a listen.
