Déjà vu is a near permanent sensation when listening to DECORATION’S debut album. Within a couple of tracks of ‘Don’t Disappoint Me Now’ I’ve been transported back to 1987.
Aaah I can remember it well. Nobody can believe The Smiths have split up so it’s down to the Indie Nightclub to drown our sorrows. The DJ is playing The Weddoes’ ‘Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft’, ‘Like An Angel’ by The Mighty Lemon Drops and ‘Shine On’ by The House of Love. After that trio it’s time to clear the dance-floor pronto as the Goths momentarily leave the belfry to cut a rug to a track by The Mission……
Great days. And they can be again if DECORATION get a fair crack of the whip. Seeking inspiration from the post C86 era is an inspired choice – David Gedge’s outfit in particular – as it was the heyday of the British indie guitar movement and a time when American bands hardly got a look in: The Pixies, Sonic Youth and REM being the only ones I can remember registering regularly on the turntable.
DECORATION are Stuart Murray (vocals/guitar), Steve Taylor (drums), Steven Dickinson (guitar) and Sam Noble (bass), the token southerner in a band that could only have been forged from the vinyl of the North. Their pre-album release kudos has been assured for a while since their inception in 2002. The late John Peel was a fan, even going as far as claiming that if he were a multi-millionaire he’d sign DECORATION and record them. As it turned out Scots label SL Records managed to do just that a week before Peel’s sad demise last October.
Unsurprisingly Peel was spot on in his admiration of the band. Although their influences are clearly stamped DECORATION sound like they have the potential to be a great band and, perhaps more importantly, a band to carry close to your heart. They display an adept skill at infusing the everyday tales from their melodic song-book with a grandeur and a cocksure manner that cannot be faked or stolen from their heroes. I think it’s called Northern Pride but it could just be something in the water.
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Actually, talking of ‘Heroes’ is quite prescient; opener ‘Pavey Ark’ borrows the opening guitar riff of Bowie’s classic for its chorus. Throughout the guitar work of ‘Don’t Disappoint Me Now’ puts me in mind of The House of Love (Pat Collier produces this album) and The Chameleons while Murray’s vocals sound like a combination of David Gedge, Mark Burgess and I Am Kloot’s Johnnie Bramwell.
Finally the other great aspect of DECORATION’S music is that most of these songs really punch their weight with tracks like ‘Job In London’ beautifully marrying the pithy commentary of Murray’s words with a big, passionate guitar dynamic. True to their pugilistic form they forgo any notions of slowing things down and close out the album with a belting track, ‘Concrete’.
Defiantly heroic and definitely promising.
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