Gruff indie the order of the day with this Boss Tuneage release from the Doublecross, aka Jonathan Greenwood and friends. You can hear the influences fairly clearly – there’s a grunge thing going on (and don’t let that put you off – the thought of grunge in 2009 is enough to make me cringe usually, but it’s more a tasteful melancholy), there’s a No Idea records thing going on (how many times have I written that about UK releases in the past few months) and there’s a voice that suggests many a cigarette and many a cheap Lidl’s whiskey. The obvious, slightly lazy comparison is to the Loved Ones, but then many have tried to recreate that sound and it never quite works. It’s the Loved Ones meets Bruce Springsteen meets, er, Fletcher.
There’s no getting away from the fact that this is a very retro sounding record – no aspirations of breaking any particular mould, more just reminding people what rock music used to sound like when crafting songs was still considered an art form. It’s definitely got the charm, if the songs are fairly passive in places and lacking the odd extra hook here and there. Still, it’s a nice little piece, this one.
Mike