It’s hard to see how The Start fit into the world of punk rock these days, seeing as they seem to be wholly unconcerned with fitting into a particular bracket. ‘Death Via Satellite’ contains six tracks of sleazy pop stomp, and this is pop in the non-Pop Idol, almost electronic sense of the word. Crappy introduction, true, but the point is that this EP does its best to resist categorisation so my traditional job of slotting this into a particular genre is made somewhat redundant.
The most interesting aspect of The Start is the fact that Aimee Echo undertakes vocal duties, and she has a quality that simply oozes sex. The coquettish cheek of her singing on title track helps to elevate a sludgy rock track above the mundanity of the driving guitars and squelching basslines but when the only interesting part of a track is the vocals it’s hard to see the band as anything but a backing track. On ‘The 1234′ Echo growls and squeaks in equal measure and for once Erick Sanger’s bass pushes the song along with an impressive pop sensibility that would fit in nicely in any indie disco in the country.
There is a frustrating inconsistency with ‘Death Via Satellite’ that makes for uneasy listening. The A Perfect Circle-esque ‘Los Angeles’ is all brooding atmosphere and expansive guitars that suggests to me that Jamie Miller’s guitar should be allowed to take prominence more often, since the band appear to be much more comfortable with letting their songs evolve than pushing them specifically towards a certain sound. Too much of the first part of ‘DVS’ sounds like a band trying to court the NME with angular rhythms and foot-stamping choruses, whereas the final third is less in-your-face and subsequently more powerful.
‘Hi Flyer’ and ‘Trinity’ could both be the soundtracks to a hundred gritty murder films, such is their sense of underlying power and creepy melody. ‘Trinity’ in particular takes a darker tone, but one that manages to flirt momentarily with a catchy hook before the gradual and menacing build up. It’s impressively curious and exhibits more confidence in a few bars than the entire opening brace.
A strange EP, but not one fully devoid of redeeming features as I once though. It’s too schizophrenic to be really impressive but it suggests that when The Start harness their darker tendencies and leave the indie pop to Franz ‘Fucking’ Ferdinand they’ll be a really atmospherically interesting band. ‘Death Via Satellite’ is hopefully not the finished article and I’d like to hear an album before making a final judgement.
Ben
www.thisisthestart.com
www.nitrorecords.com