Left For Dead EP,
Shootin' GoonSomething strange is going on, as far as UK ska is concerned. In the last few months we’ve had Lightyear’s announcement of their departure from the scene while bands like Ye Wiles and Sonic Boom Six create a sizeable buzz around themselves by approaching a certain type of music in a wholly different manner. And in the future there are rumours that Capdown will take a different musical direction (you heard it here first), leaving the UK ska scene in a thoroughly alien place when compared with a year or two ago. Obviously this can be considered evolution, and I’m not calling it a bad thing at all – personally I’m excited – but you have to wonder what many of the bands that looked like they were about to peak about a year ago will do. Shootin’ Goon for example – where next for the band that appeared to hold so much promise? I can tell you that they are most definitely back – and they seem pissed.
This new EP finds the band in an angry state of mind. Tracks like ‘Guestlist/Hitlist’ lash out at not just the blaggers, but the false fans that annoy them so much. It serves as both an attack and a statement that SG will keep their feet on the ground to the soundtrack of a traditional ska beat bolstered by a bass that bounces all over the place, with the brass alternating between subtitling the guitar lines and breaking free to expand the sound as a whole. Pinched harmonics add a slightly heavier tone to the chorus, as well as sounding cool as hell. The changes of pace never sound laboured or forced at all, and this shows the band’s evolution as musicians – it’s not as if the separate parts of the song feel bolted on, rather an organic progression.
Both ‘Every Single Time’ and ‘Photograph’ mix simple guitar riffs with the brass section taking a different direction to just being the conventional melody, forging an innovative sound that will still be recognisably familiar to most ska fans. The brass isn’t as in-your-face as with other bands, it rises slowly from the core of the song resulting in a more triumphant sound which is accentuated when placed in comparison to the pared-down, raw section of ‘Photograph’.
I rate ‘MTV’ as being the best track on the EP, and it’s not the clichéd rant that I expected it to be. Once again the mix of chunky power chords, off-beat skanking material and the ever-reliable brass combine to sturdy effect in a song that subtly switches pace from the frenetic ska track it appears to be, to a slower-moving (yet perhaps more powerful), larger-sounding example of SG’s annoyance at the marginalisation of what they hold true.
So, a return to form then – but not entirely. ‘Wage Slave’ is a throwaway track that displays far less imagination and nous than the other 4 songs, and the lyrics are clumsily expressed. It is a shame because the rest of Left For Dead implies that SG have far more in them, and this EP leaves a lot of questions unanswered. For example, while it is true that they haven’t stuck to a rigidly boring template for their songs, the liberal smattering of ideas and innovation they display suggests that far greater things are ahead of them. I’m looking forward to what they do next, and on this evidence, it’s going to kick ass.
Ben
