[click here to print this entry]
By: Alex Vitlin
Date: 14th Aug 08
Release: EP
To Cure: A predictable playlist
What:
Songs EP
Who:
Songs
On:
The Spring Press / Popfrenzy
Describing music is, almost inevitably, a frustrating series of inadequate analogies. In the case of Songs, my grey matter latched onto the following: Punk lilt and guitar-driven melodies that recall Is This It-era Strokes. Vocals that channel a stripped-back Velvet Underground; driving rhythms that might have been picked up off the floor after The Wrens finished The Meadlowlands; Constrained, Stooges-like brevity in afour-track EP.
None of these comparisons capture the evocative whole sound of the Songs EP, and all of them cast the band as derivative - which they're not. Songs are, however, informed and deliberate, which is different. This is a band whose appeal lies not in technical proficiency, but in their ability to craft a mood. And what an interesting, wistful mood it is.