Brakes

Imagine Velvet Underground, Blur, Roxy Music, The Ramones, The Byrds, REM, Neil Young and Joy Division molded into one glorious ball of energy and you still fall short of an adequate description. I'll give you three words to consider: raw, quirky, unpredictable. The album has 16 songs and clocks in at 29 minutes, with most under two minutes. They include the 10 second rant of ‘Cheney', a full 30 seconds of ‘Pick Up the Phone', the 38 second plea during ‘Hi How Are You' - “…won't you shut the fuck up I'm trying to watch the band…”, and ‘Comma, Comma, Comma, Full Stop' at a whopping 6 seconds barely has time to sing its title. For the current single, ‘All Night Disco Party' (2 min 43) imagine if Blur merged Girls ‘n' Boys with Song 2. It sounds ridiculous on paper but is a real corker, and as catchy as a school playground full of mumps. Last years release, ‘I Can't Stand to Stand Beside You' begs to be re-released – one of the best singles of last year is how Joy Division may have sounded if they were formed in late 60's, garage era USA. While ‘You're So Pretty' has a sweet country jangly early REM feel. And don't skip the wonderful ‘Sometimes Always' with its Buffalo Tom sentiment, and cute girly backing.

Ok, enough of the similarities. Tom and Alex White of Electric Soft Parade, Mark Beatty of Tenderfoot, and Eamon from British Sea Power have pooled their considerable talents in an unpredictable, often heart felt, always honest, sometimes crazy, forever quirky, country art-punk half hour. And every second is worth listening to. An early contender for album of the year.

Rob Barnett, Music News