South London’s Golden Silvers have been hotly tipped for a hot minute now over their guitar-free indie white-boy funk. Now, debut LP ‘True Romance’ is here and yet another strange stab at 80s English funk is watered down from an impressive live show into something plodding through the motions. The groove is dead fellas, Like The Invisible, they carry a tune and they carry it well, it seems to get lost in a watered-down studio environment with the red lights on and the lack of a crowd vibsing in front of them, suddenly, the drums sounded ungrooved, the singer sounds displaced and the music fails to lift people’s fists to the ceiling in rapture. So what do we do? Turn the cowbells on. Turn the harmonies to 80s crescendo ballad pop.
‘True No 9 Blues (True Romance)’ the title track in ways, is a skanking cod-reggae full of groove and thumping cowbell. There’s even a cod-spoken word verse, mocked thrillingly in a recent Adam and Joe song war. ‘Here Comes the King’ is the sombre ballad, inspired by a 50s piano plod and lots of reverb turned up, like the song was recorded in an empty concert hall. Songs like ‘Please Venue’ and ‘Arrows of Eros’ show an impressive understanding of literature. Finale ‘Fade to Black’ is more earnest and emotive than what has come before it, ending the album on an impressive bittersweet note. This is for fans of the Invisible and Esser. It’s cod-whiteboy funk for retro addicts, unable to function without some sort of retro gazing into hilarious bad fashions from the past. Oh well, the can’t be arsed cry. It’s alright. Oh well. Underwhelming finish to an underwhelming review about an underwhelmingly hotly tipped band that’s alright.
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1 comment:
Enjoyed your review up on the album, interesting points and I agree with you to a certain extent, although I take more of a liking towards to the retro sound. Anywho, check out my write-up http://sound-revolution.blogspot.com/2009/08/true-romance.html
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