Every time INSTANT SPECIES release an album I remember how good they are, and I remind myself how wide the gulf between serious talent and wide acclaim sometimes has to be.
INSTANT SPECIES inhabit a parallel universe (geologically similar to contemporary Huddersfield) where the unfinished nonsense of rock and roll is put to rights. Robert the Bruce's "real" spider gave inspiration to patience and precision and this album is clear evidence that the humble virtues pay off.
The general SPECIES approach is to write watertight songs with cunning lyrical ideas and to set them in glistening dollops of the purest musical invention. Their other-worldly motivation seems to be to have so much creative fun in the process that litttle time is left for self advertisement. If Domino or Mute ever persuaded them to join the Beauty Pageant of media celebrity, the world would be a much poorer place. How would they ever get the time to refine such goodies if they had to rotate their lives between tour bus, cheesy venues, personal appearances and visits to the accountant? The isolated life in a cave seems to have done their art no end of good.
The English tradition that INSTANT SPECIES have studied from their unique vantage point in the sandstone parts of the West Yorkshire hills is the intelligent lyrical observational stuff we have always enjoyed from the likes of Ray Davies, Madness, Joe Jackson, Ian Dury, Elvis Costello, the earliest Jam, Blur and Pulp.
Start, if you like with the cowboys at track 8. "Go To Your Grave in Mexico" is classic INSTANT SPECIES. There's a deft choice of Western Ballad idiom – in this case a blend of Marty Robins, Johnny Cash and Duane Eddy. The mariachi trumpet, the great clanging guitar line and the chanted chorus are all spot on – played to sound great - with no ironic fumbling. The musical self confidence is a treat. But with such good noises already there, there's a diamond of a song to go with it.
|
"Man of the Sea" has queasy swaying tuba with lo-fi percussion and beautifully recorded bass harmony singing. The song itself carries a familiar Species theme – the perils of sex.
"Tax Man Funny Man" has a strong (and very accurate) Two Tone feel, with lovely dancehall instrumentation and a great saxophone solo, placed accurately and sparingly where it gives that glorious emotional lift that only a saxophone can do.
"Hombrecide" could be a sideways tribute to fellow Yorkshire high-stylists FOUR DAY HOMBRE. But maybe not, with its FRANZ FERDINAND taunt and its threat of being slit apart by a vengeful brother. That perils of sex theme again, which returns for yet another twist of the gonads on "The Russian Bride" (who turns into a spy while dancing to a six eight tune to echo the "Waltz in A Minor" at track 2.
There really is no weak track among the twelve. All merit close listening, and the whole album played in a single session has an intense energy that keeps bowling along through all the swerves of style and sound. Not so much " a grower" as an invitation to obsessive-compulsive listening.
Really fine stuff.
www.instantspecies.co.uk
|
