Back in the mists of time....well, OK 1990 actually...there was briefly an exciting explosion of young British rock outfits with the energy of punk and the passion and commitment of real, harmony-driven songwriting. This clutch of bands included The Senseless Things, Snuff and (best of all) Mega City Four: lads from unfashionable home counties places (mostly) who wanted to reinvent the romance of clambering into a grimy transit van and conquering every stop from John O'Groats to Lands End.
Of course, it didn't last long. The plaid-shirted hordes piling across the Atlantic in the wake of Nirvana's "Nevermind" ensured the UK keepers of the late-period Husker Du flame would die a painful commercial and critical death as they stumbled beyond roundly-panned second albums. The world turned, Seattle's kingdom fell and before you knew it the Gallaghers were upon us.
Fast forward to 2003, though, and all of a sudden it's becoming apparent that the unpretentious spirit of 1990 survived on a low flame all along. Indeed, in recent months, we've been discovering a whole host of (mostly) home counties-based young pups doing their own energetic, tune-heavy thing with power and passion to spare. If you're looking for examples,there's the arty, sleazy Plastik, the breezy Lemonheads-y crunch of Stag, the abrasive Cooper Brown and now - from a manor not a million miles from the MC4's old stamping ground - there's Southampton's Mr.E. and their tasty second album, "A Million Faces."
Before you start jumping to conclusions, I'm not trying to create spurious scenes here (we've got the NME for that, anyway), as all these bands are quite disparate, but in terms of energetic songcraft and commitment they are certainly bedfellows. Indeed, Mr.E are perhaps the easiest to digest of the lot, simply letting the tunes pour out of them, while they play with a professional, but slightly soiled gusto.
A few basics. Mr.E are four: Harun Kotch (vocals/ guitar); Ross Meecham (guitar/ vocals), bassist Chris Haines and drummer John Roberts, who also has the distinction of sessions with The Blockheads. In itself that's a compliment as anyone who can follow the late Charley Charles knows his onions. It's patently obvious John does throughout this album, too.
"A Million Faces" (the title copped from the deceptively mellow "Just Because") is their second album, and it's released by the band's own imprint Knuci Records. On listening to the first seven tracks, especially, it's hard to fathom why Mr.E haven't been snapped up for a major deal as their hard-edged, but soaringly melodic sound ain't a universe away from the engagingly mournful power Feeder are selling by the bucketload these days. Indeed, third track "Brand New" does a similar mature, melancholy thing to "Just The Way I'm Feeling" and has a similarly moving chorus.
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But it's the fact that Mr.E play so well together and let melody ooze so naturally out of them that really appeals. Opener "Hear What I Hear" is ridiculously catchy with Meecham and Kotch's proud, primary guitars kept lean and primed at all times; "Someone Else's Shoes" has a wistful, slowburning quality and "She" coils and twists tight like a great lost early Radiohead track. Terrific.
It does threaten to get a little formulaic for a while. Both "Seems To Me" and "Russian Roulette" are perfectly decent songs, but a mite predictable, but there's no such problem with the final pair of tunes, "Let's Get Out Of Here" and "Will." The former kicks in with a hilarious mass shout of "Rock'n'roll!" and the briefest of Pistols powerchords, before settling into drifty verses and a huge Foo Fighters-style chorus and the closing "Will" is a further stylistic stretch, with subtle, moody electronica and manic David Gedge strumming being injected unceremoniously into the group's fizzing sonic bloodstream. This is a good thing, in case you were wondering.
"A Million Faces" is a cracking album from a fresh-faced bunch who are putting an energetically modern spin on ye olde motorway-burnin', one-night-stand rock'n'roll action, with the pretensions happily swept aside. If they can maintain the pace and melodic strike-rate, we're in for a thrilling ride with them.
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