Rebirth, reinvention, reincarnation: whether it's Blur, The Stone Roses or Led Zeppelin getting back together, Muse "going dubsteb", Madonna becoming increasingly desperate or little known bands shaking off their previous image and sound to launch another assault on the music world, the last couple have years have seen plenty of change, not just in the music industry itself but in bands trying to adapt to an ever increasingly crammed musical landscape. Edinburgh's Electric Clowns have ditched their previous moniker, We Are, and are now armed with (in their own words) better tunes and a better line-up. Well, the name is certainly an improvement, not to mention much more likely to yield useful results when Googling them, although we're not sure what an electric clown is. Still it's the tunes that count, and without having heard their first incarnation we will trust them and assume this new EP is their best work yet. That doesn't, however, mean it's necessarily any good.
Upon listening to 'In White Lights' everything indicates they're telling the truth, because the only reason to drop a sound as good as this would be for something exceptional. These three songs are very good scruffy garage tunes that owe a debt to The Strokes first couple of albums. It's slightly riotous rock 'n' roll with dirty production, the vocals sound like they were recorded under a duvet, the guitars are scuzzy and reverberating and the tunes are pretty good too. Heaps of guitar bands formed in the past decade and sounded a bit like The Strokes, but most of them were rubbish, and hence 'landfill indie' was born. There's a bit more edge to Electric Clowns and despite the comparison they have their own character. The poppy melodies and desperate vocals on 'Out Of Site' actually have passion, and this is enhanced further on the excellent 'What Would Your Old Boy Say?'. However they went about changing from their past life, it sounds like an inspired move to us.
Electric Clown's website
Buy the EP
For more news, reviews and downloads follow The Sound Of Confusion on Facebook or Twitter
soundofconfusion@hotmail.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment