On first viewing, five-piece Audit Control have everything going for them: hailing from that fertile breeding ground of West Yorkshire (and in particular, the Leeds/Huddersfield hub). The English music scene has been exceptionally blessed in the last few years, thanks in no small part to the fabulously rich contribution made by the West Yorkshire Urban Area which includes iLiKETRAiNS, Vessels, Stateless and I Concur. So, on the face of it, Audit Control should do well. According to the accompanying note, they're "a guitar-based indie band with some influences like The Cure and The Editors" (sic). This angular brand of melancholic rock is rather à la mode at the moment (aside from the big boys, we also Computerclub, White Lies, Mezzanine Owls etc etc), which means that it's going to take something pretty immense to make people look up from their newspapers.
Things start off reasonably enough: "When We Run", the opener to the band's demo EP "To The Universe", is polished, tight and nicely paced. The vocals, similar to the Guy Bannister baritone histrionics (without the history-based lyrical inspiration), are the sort that would once have been described as "an acquired taste" but, with the explosion of slightly odd baritone warblers, can now safely be passed over without much ado. "Heart Electric" is far more dynamic, with thudding bass drum, skittering percussion and an agitated crunching rhythm guitar.
"To The Universe", on the other hand, is a sparse, slow builder. Beginning with a slightly plodding, repetitive, piercing guitar line, the song gradually unfurls, the rhythm section unpacking itself competently before everything is shelved away again at the end. It's nicely symmetrical, but the collective parts never really compensate fully for its scarcity. Finally, the EP closes with "Reciprocation", Audit Control's stab at the big-time stadium anthem. It's another gradual builder that climaxes with the "Something in your eyes/repeated, never tried" chorus. It could still do with being beefed up a little, an unexpected criticism considering that there are two guitars plus the rhythm section, but it's got promise and the surprising little guitar solo that closes the song is tidily executed.
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Perhaps most notable about the group is the very lack of melancholy so expected when The Cure or Editors are mentioned. They're really not mournfully dark enough to be mentioned in the same breath as the big hitters in the genre. But, whilst both lyrically and atmospherically they stray from the much-trodden path, the sparse, wiry post-punk that they have honed does however have a lot in common with our "Boy Division" chums. For the moment, they're lacking some stand-out songs; it still remains to be seen whether they can channel this earnest sincerity, the atmosphere and the stripped intensity in the right way. But To The Universe (the EP), "Reciprocation" in particular, is a promising start and demonstrates that they have the ambition.
Audit Control on Myspace
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