Album review by Andy L
Long since passed are the days when the WWW in your address bar proudly sported an identity all of its own. Back then the online world moved at a more sedate speed, moseying on down as it pleased, tipping the brow of its Stetson and pausing passively to survey the scene – this was life once upon a time in the Wired Wild West; a frontier ripe for exploration and conquest, and boy how the settlers came. Where once lay a tumbleweed town, there now sits a thriving metropolis; horse power has been superseded by high speed download, ranches removed in favour of social network skyscrapers, and traversing the heart of it all is the teeming tarmac of the multi-lane information super highway – upon which, firmly with their pedal to the floor, arrive Internet Forever blasting out their debut LP.
It’s been three years since this trio of southern English prospectors first headed to the hills, pans in hand with a dream to pursue, so now we ask, have they returned to this chaotic civilisation with pockets full of gold musical nuggets? The answer is a 24 carrot yes, and what’s more, a little bit of polish has brought everything up gleaming!
From the moment the rota blade roar of opener ‘Golden Temple’ crashes into the big beat psychedelics of ‘3D’ – a lament on how a virtual persona may not stack up in the flesh – the tone is set.; this is 'Tomorrow Never Knows' with muscles, and it lays down a marker for an album totally in step with its modern fast paced surroundings. Spanning twelve tracks, crammed into little more than thirty minutes, what follows is a feast of chanted chorus’, chest thumping drum beats and fuzz flavoured fun.
Be it the Sleigh Bells on summer vacation pop of ‘Break Bones’, the urgent Go! Team-esque, baton twirling, majorette march of ‘I Don’t Care’, or the punk rock power of ‘I’ll Seep When I’m Alive’ this a record that is bright, bold and blistering at almost every step – almost, but not quite, because what really helps it raise its level are the subtle switches in pace that sprinkle the LP.
On ‘Pages of Books’ that variety is provided in the shape of a sun-kissed outro, think The Beloved and their blissed out, bathing Balearic house; ‘Zbigniew Sings’ drops out in even more lazy, shimmering fashion, but most interesting of all is the albums parting shot. ‘3M’ stands apart from its predecessors, adopting a dreamy, hazy demeanour from the off, allowing the guitars to swirl and spiral in and out in the manner of My Bloody Valentines classic single ‘Soon’. It’s an intriguing pointer to what could lie further down the road for Internet Forever, but more importantly an ideal sign off to this pop perfect debut long-player.
"We want to be the centre of the universe but someone above us won’t let us through" the band declare as the record reaches its middle moments; well to any higher powers up there, if you’re listening, please lift the blockade - this brave new digital world would be so much better for it, we can't let this lot ride off into the sunset unnoticed.
Internet Forever's website
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