Historical Fiction,
The Measure [SA]
Well, this is all very jangly, I must say. In fact, it’s jangly punk with occasional handclaps – a winning combination in many books. I mean, it’s hard to make handclaps sound shit unless you put them on every track. The creators of all this are The Measure [SA] who hail from New Jersey – and after a few listens I’d say they’re certainly worthy to belong in a place with such an erstwhile punk rock reputation.
What you’re getting here is a real blend. You can hear everything in there from indie to folk to punk rock to folk-punk and it really does turn out alright, despite being the dangers of plucking from a multitude of subgenres. Vocals are frequently female led, but with a bit o’ gruff backing up from the sidelines and occasionally taking over to inject a different feel to the record. I’d have to say that side of things is balanced pretty well. Though I would have liked a little more vocal interchange and see the band try and layer them up a bit (like they do on ‘Angell Street’ where it’s very well done). In general the vocals nicely complement the walking bass which seems to lead quite a few songs, with the tonally raw guitars slightly left to one side and sometimes even used sparingly, adding to the overall folk-punk feel.
Historical Fiction is quite often concerned with breaking out of that small town you’ve been born into and attempting to escape from the formulaic life that such an existence brings. You can’t beat a beat an aspirational voice if it’s done fairly well, and although it’s sometimes off the mark, there’s plenty of times on this where it hits the spot. It’s an oft-used approach in punk rock, but there’s nothing overbearing or clichéd about it here. Add in some choice lyrics about social issues (“You’ve seen the bottle do its damage, I know you’re different but it’s true”), a good bitch about the cubicle office lifestyle (“When the office wall makes you want to heave, it should not take all of my insisting”) and you’ve got quite a tidy little release. Personally, I’d say that if you like Ghost Mice, The Lawrence Arms, Lucero, DIY punk rock in general or even The Pogues done with a plodding country-ish twist then you’ll find something to like about this.
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