Cork boys STANLEY SUPER 800'S eponymous debut album was one of the brightest stars shining in the Irish rock firmament during 2004, so it's good to have them back sounding typically energised and persuasive on this new 5-track EP.
This outing is the first release featuring excellent new drummer Dave, and it's much closer to the band's live sound than some of the trancier material on the album. Proceedings open with the upbeat rock version of the LP'S stark'n'windswept piano ballad "It's All Over Now." Your reviewer has witnessed the band playing this charged and wired version live and it was surely begging to be a single one way or another. It's a lyrically desperate, but musically uplifting affair, with Stan setting the controls for the heart of darkness as he sings: "I hear voices in my head,I know they're calling me/ And I look down at the rocks and I know that's where they'll find me." Gulp. There's no mistaking the finality of the chorus ("I dont love you anymore/ I don't need you anymore") either, but the music's drive and abandon will soon have you singing along regardless.
There's plenty more gear to enjoy as the EP unfolds too. "Over And Over" appears to be a typically acerbic commentary on the trials and tribulations of life on the road, and arriving the "2 Hours Late" of the title. The song itself drinks deep from that self-styled, Super Furries-esque pop well that SS800 keep seemingly on tap and stands up well with Flor's cool fuzz bass prominent while Stan relates a scenario that anyone who's ever done the rounds of motorway services and dodgy clubs can relate to. "When we finally show up we look like shit on a slate/ But the sound's real good and the people say "you're great, "" he sings disarmingly. Who says you can't have a happy ending, huh?
"Borange" takes up the baton with a dippy, faux-country rock lilt about it and Stan weighing in with one of the daftest choruses you'll find yourself taking on this year. "Ah yeah, I remember him well, he used to come to the shop", he sings." We never had what he wanted, it didn't seem to matter." Well, that's good to know. It's inspired nonsense and when the band grab the final meaty coda by the scruff of the neck, it really takes off.
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"Voices In The Music", meanwhile, once again revisits the band's debut album, for a 'katoustic development'. It's a worthwhile one, too, with the spaced and dancy vibe of the original replaced by scrubbed acoustics and a lengthy outing for Tosh's banjo. If anything, the song is rather like the Stans' equivalent of Elvis Costello's "Seconds Of Pleasure": a song he would tinker with and try different arrangements of over several albums. I think with this version, though, that Stan and co may have hit the jackpot. Finally, we have "Harmonics" to take us out. It's a crescendo-tastic instrumental that can be a powerplay live that ( if memory serves) the band may have called upon to kick off their album launch set at Cork's Half Moon last year. On record it's a little less gripping, though the way the track's motifs recur in different ways works well and it hits home after a few plays.
A timely reminder that Stanley Super 800 are still very much in contention, then, "2 Hours Late" may not proffer organisational skills as the band's strong suit, but more than compensates creatively. Besides, since when have we expected our classiest bands to arrive on time? C'mon, don't make me laugh.
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