Out Despite declaring themselves as Wales’ hottest, wildest, latest sensations, THE METHOD are undoubtedly honorary Scousers. Their music sounds an apocalyptic B-movie soundtrack. Guitars practically fire reverb, horn sections strangle riffs and there singer can fucking holler. There’s enough weird sounds to make you think that aliens are invading every two minutes. I don’t know about the usual ‘cut them open and this band bleeds Beefheart, Arthur Lee, early Floyd’… you could probably just smell it off THE METHOD.
'Dissidents and Dancers' is the nightmare album The Coral and The Zutons keep threatening to make. It’s completely loaded with venom, packed with unbearably funky guitar riffs stolen from old spy movies. You don’t know if it’s going to be your best mate or kick your head in, and you can’t get much more scouse than that. If you ever catch anyone listening to Arctic Monkey disciple Miles Kane, please send them this way immediately.
These boys are probably incendiary live. On record they’re not far off. It’s a gloriously retro production that would sound at home in vintage clothes shops, preferably played on vinyl. The drums are fantastically trashy. The vocals ooze with crackly distortion like a beyond desperate Lee Brilleaux. Every time it even thinks about getting dull, there’s a stab of Hammond organ. It all feels a bit wrong listening to it on an IPod. To me that’s the acid test of truly great rock and roll.
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However for all the success in ambience, they haven’t quite written a classic yet. Recent single WE DON’T KNOW with its demented helium backing vocals comes unbelievably close. The horn solo in THE FOOL is mind meltingly brilliant but makes the rest of the song sound unduly tame. The eerie backing vocals in YOUR HUMBLE ENTERTAINERS is simply one of the coolest openings to an album I’ve heard all year however it frustratingly does little more than set the album’s tone.
These are songs that will force you to swagger but can’t quite force you to remember a chorus. I’m sure this isn’t a problem live, YouTube footage of a recent stage invasion is more than enough evidence for this. However, while the album hooks you with its fantastic atmosphere, there’s not a knock-out blow to reel you in.
There’s more thank enough to hold your attention though. If they came from Liverpool the NME would be calling them “local heroes” by now.
The Method on MySpace
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