So, would anyone like another slice of electro-informed indie pop with McCartney-esque vocals? Sure? It’ll go in the bin otherwise…
Okay, so it’s hard to get excited about a band that, on the face of things, sounds like a poor man’s Hot Chip. I mean, even their name lacks lustre (the glut of ‘wave’ bands rivalling ‘crystal’ bands in 2009). Yes indeed, I was just about to play the evil crit-card and declare a pox on the quite frankly bloated electro-pop scene; that is until repeated plays won out with the eventual realisation that Wave Machines’ debut album is actually a really great record brimming with good ideas, hooks, melodies and experimentation.
‘Wave If You’re Really There’ does suffer from a slightly tepid opening, meaning that the action doesn’t really start until first single ‘I Go I Go I Go’ kicks in – a perfectly upbeat bit of fluff with a deceptively strong punch. This is followed immediately by the slouching slow-mo mirror-ball groove of ‘Keep The Lights On’ in all its faux night-fever chic.
But just when you’re thinking Wave Machines have carved out a nice little post-nu-rave niche for themselves, they jump you with a surprisingly affecting Britpop-style lighter-anthem called ‘Punk Spirit’ that’s so far removed from the rest of the album it could be by a different band. It’s this ability to stop and do something completely different that makes Wave Machines stand out from the rest of the other bands on the indie-electro conveyor belt, and they break out the mould again with the disjointed, falsetto-led ‘I Joined A Union’, a bizarre piece of psychedelia not dissimilar to the kind of craziness being pedalled by of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes, or ‘90s fellow-Scousers the Boo Radleys.
So, maybe the old girl’s got a bit of spark left in her yet. Electro-pop, this is your final warning: you’ve had a good innings, but you’re free to do your worst until 2010. But then, that’s quite probably it.
7/10
