Post War Years – The Greats and the Happenings

I remember seeing a late-night television interview with Foals where faced with the hype they considered themselves kids who listened to too much Q And Not U.

I’m paraphrasing of course but it seems like they weren’t the only ones as has been seen in recent years particularly from the output of certain London based labels. I’m not aware if these bands feel like they’re treading fairly new ground, if that is a concern held by any bands these days, or if their formula is their influences mixed with a lot of passion; I’m inclined to think it’s the latter. The problem with bands relying so much on passion and enthusiasm to engage with their audience is that it’s very hard to record. Unless it’s being produced by someone with experience of bringing this aspect out or it’s all recorded without concessions for performance and with as little attention to fidelity as possible. With Post War Years admitting in an interview with ITN that playing live is where they “get their kicks” and recording the majority of it in their flat (with some post-production from Graham Stewart), the results are mixed.

The album starts with ‘The Red Room’ which brings a sound akin to their ‘Black Morning’ release and that of Aloha’s Some Echoes opener ‘Brace Your Face’. Tension builds steadily throughout with tight harmonies, panned clapping, off kilter synth parts, kick drum and Bass guitar locking in, some Theremin whirls, the drums build and then it’s over. ‘Death March’ and lead single ‘Whole World On Its Head’ are next as you begin to realise that the tone has been set with each song having a driving and more than proficient rhythm section which impresses with every song. The mood is honest and unintentionally dark with ‘Den’ a technical almost minimal techno feel, the lyrics “With our skin so pale/and our outstretched hands” crying out for a remix.

‘White Lies’ starts with stabbed vocal samples and popping bass which remind me of some bad rave songs from the early ’90s but skilfully avoid sounding crass by sticking with real drums and somehow managing to be one of the album’s most fully formed songs. It’s not until you get past the Owls-esque ‘Red and Blue’ to ‘Soul Owl’ and ‘Ghost Door’ that you feel the band stop trying as hard and open up. The former delivers one of the album’s only choruses that actually lifts the song and the latter has a minute and a half of swooning vocals and pads appearing and then fading, find the band at their most prog. Whilst a little self indulgent these tracks show a level of experimentation and creativity that is unfortunately only seen again four tracks later on album closer ‘That’s All’ plus the untitled hidden track.

Like every debut album there is a mix of influences and original ideas, delivery and potential, and if they’d had another couple of months to record they’d probably have written a completely different album that sounded less like two EPs put together. Potential is the cohesion on the album and luckily the style of music they make probably won’t give them so much hype that they won’t have the time and space for development. The majority of the instrumentation sounds like it could be reproduced on stage without too much trouble, the drums being one of the most enjoyable parts of the album, which is in a sense its downfall as it could be taken that it’s done the reverse and been transferred form the stage to their house, albeit with a few more embellishments. They undoubtedly possess a strong vision for their music and the album is brimming over with overdubs and ideas that repeatedly build and build but more often than not fail to get there. It is produced with confidence and ability but they would perhaps have benefited from working with an experienced producer to develop the ideas into formed songs and capture their essence. There are a few obvious singles which are upbeat and danceable but they are at their most interesting when the stabs and staccato take a backseat to a richer and less clinical palette.

Hopefully they will find a happy medium for future releases, otherwise they may be forever getting the party started rather then setting it alight.