I found myself enjoying this album a great deal because it popped in right under the radar (DIY sleeve, simple artwork, not released on any label) and managed to include a lot of good ideas without dropping too far into genre or worrying too much about being categorised. Arguably this could be called a lack of consistency but from my point of view it’s just good to hear a band without being able to build a fairly accurate mental image of them within the first couple of songs.
‘Name Written On It’ and ‘Man With The Megaphone’ are both strikingly powerful tracks that rely on a solid structure with an understated sense of melody that succeeds in being both impressive and simple at the same time. The overall tone of the album is fairly dark, but the swing-like ‘Heaven FM’ works so well that it’s disconcerting when the Captains slip into something like the brooding ‘I Live With Ghosts’ – not in a bad way, but in the way that eating a bag of Revels makes for a constantly disconcerting experience. To tediously extend the metaphor this album IS a bag of Revels with all the coffee ones removed – a good thing.
When trying to think of bands that the Captains sound like I came up short. The best I can think of is a more reserved Idlewild with a heavier guitar sound that bases itself more on bluesy riffs than anything else. Yeah, so it might not fit into any one ‘punk’ subsubsubsubsubsubsubcategorygenrething that I can think of but it’s bloody good. It’s sexy without being too blatant as the raw groove of ‘My Wife Is My God’ dissolves into a frantic chorus section that I reckon would be fantastic live, and signals a few more original ideas structure-wise. I can wholeheartedly recommend tracking this lot down because they’ve definitely got something for pretty much everyone.
Ben
www.captainsofthecitadel.com