I think all music fans once in a while find themselves a sucker to a gimmick; just something extra that a band do that you think is kind of cool. Now for the Radiohead’s and Bloc Party’s of this world, you can release your album within days of you completing it, and not worry too much about the publicity. For them it will generate itself. But if you’re a new band trying to get noticed, it’s far more important to make an impression
Full marks to The Tunics for a comprehensive campaign. Over the course of the summer, they have been issuing their album in the form of six two track singles. Combined, the singles make a big picture of a boy staring out a window, which is all rather fun for the music geek. It’s an interesting move, revealing your debut album to those that care before the full LP hits the shops. It’s certainly different, and in honour of this, the following review will treat each
"Cost of Living / Turn Away"
First thought; oh, it’s a southern Alex Turner. Second thought; it ALL rather sounds like the Arctic Monkeys, just with a slightly higher pitch and less impressive drums. ‘Cost of Living’ is a catchy indie rock number with a chorus that never seems to die. It repeats a few times too many, and is laden with the modern references of Ipod’s and the like that will no doubt age this music horribly quickly. The ending is abrupt and clumsy; not the finest start.
‘Turn Away’ moves away from the obvious influences and shows a second facet to The Tunics. A slow, largely acoustic number, it’s a stripped down Oasis song, with a bit of The Specials funk loitering in the background. It degenerates into an instrumental and brings us back round to another unwanted chorus. For a ballad, it lacks the requisite emotion needed to move the listener. If there was something in it at the start, then by the fourth minute you can’t help but feel that you’ve heard all there is to hear.
"Fade Out / Do What You Did"
The beginning of CD2 and already I’m beginning to feel like I’ve been conned. ‘Fade Out’ is called Fade Out, which is a term that should have left firmly entrenched in the Britpop era. It sounds like ‘The Importance of Being Idle,’ sung by a hybrid of Liam, Alex and, at the height of the chorus, the bloke from JJ72. The “I need you” wails, and the general fade out sentiment of the lyrics is thoroughly generic. Another clumsy ending follows another pleonastic chorus.
|
So it comes as no surprise that ‘Do What You Did’ is a song about your typical lairy British holiday, sung very much in the style of Arctic Monkeys, complete with Arctic Monkeys riffs and…
There was clearly an error in the approach here. To review all six singles on their merit would be a lesson in repetition, such as is the experience of listening to all six of these singles. Basically, you’ve heard this all before. XFM is bursting at the seams with this sort of mainstream bothering chart-rock, usually with better production. Most of the songs are mid-tempo tunes, with the occasional ballad thrown in. The occasional flashes of organ sounds are the only thing that make it sound slightly different.
The Tunics need an identity of their own, they need to know how to finish songs and they need to make something that at least contains a shred of originality. They’re a good two years too late to swept up in Monkey-mania, The Pigeon Detectives raped that corpse a long time ago. It’s all self-satisfied lyrics, trying to be so now and relevant that they sound old well before their time. Even if you could pretend the Arctic Monkeys didn’t exist, these songs just aren’t interesting enough to make an impression.
I love the promotion – shame that’s the only inventive thing about them.
|
