Brock Murdoch are probably mental and refreshingly they play music like they really don’t give a shit what you think. At times this makes Role Model challenging to listen to, but elsewhere it makes for exciting and unique experience. The most obvious comparison I could draw would be with a looser, more shambolic Glassjaw; skittering post-hardcore, topped with some fairly impressive vocal acrobatics that Palumbo would be proud off – there’s also a touch of Hot Cross about these boys. Unlike their peers though, Brock Murdoch seemed to have taken the songwriting rulebook and buried it in the ground before buying a bottle of tequila, buying a cheap avant-garde jazz compilation and spilling their guts onto record, to mixed effect.
Most of the tracks are dark and there is an ever increasing sense of panic and hysteria as the record progresses. Somewhere, probably in a country with a below average temperature and not enough daylight hours, this is the soundtrack to someone’s rapid mental collapse. It’s chaotic and uncompromising – rarely do I listen to anything committed to tape and worry that I might miss something, and even less frequently is my attention held with such strong curiosity. Role Model is unpredictable. Sure, the guitar gets a bit repetitive but then every song has about 15 time changes and it’s almost all you can do to keep listening – the drumming in particular is a highlight, if you can pick it out for long enough to make sense of it.
The production on Role Model though sounds cheap and loose, and whilst it serves to increase the feeling of chaos/excitement it also loses some of the detail and makes some of the rhythm changes more jarring. Unfortunately the albums major strength is also it’s major failing. Some of the songs are a little overlong (‘Armchair Assassin’ and ‘Breakfast In Bed’) and whilst there is enough to keep you interested for a few listens those songs in particular don’t stand up to repeat plays – sometimes there is just too much going on and the music is so overblown it’s difficult to listen to.
Role Model is a competent and fresh debut but it falls slightly short – if Brock Murdoch reign in the experimentalism a little bit and concentrate on writing some big choruses to complement their style, their next album could be a bloody monster.
Kieran