The four girls of Brighton, England’s Electrelane locked themselves in a studio once again with engineer Steve Albini (of Big Black, Rapeman, Shellac and engineer of Nirvana, Pixies, and PJ Harvey) to work on their follow up to “The Power Is Out.”
This time, the girls have abandoned the signature vocals sung in foreign languages, the magnificent, hypnotic choir of voices singing in lush harmonies, and the easy-going and up-beat song arrangements. On the new album “Axes,” Electrelane & Albini seem to have created a dynamic instrumental rock opera. In the revamped sound, guitarist Mia Clarke really cranks up her amp and becomes a key player of Albini-esque steel guitar noise club. It seems as if Albini took Mia under his wing and initiated her into the art of industrial guitar noises – it seems she graduated in her training as she makes her guitar squeal and scream. Bassist Ros Murray is locked on target with the heavier pounding percussive force of Emma Gaze. Where multi-talented front-woman Verity Susman lays off the vocals for this album, she deftly delves into chaotic organ playing and distorted guitar expressions and even dabbles on the sax on “Gone Darker.” “Axes” is quite a jarring departure for those of us familiar with the harmonious 2003’s “The Power Is Out.” The abrasive new Electrelane album returns more to the original blueprint of their debut “Rock It To The Moon.”
After the dark, distorted, minute-and-a-half instrumental intro of “One, Two, Three, Lots,” the music resides and seamlessly blends into the familiar swirly pop-tune entitled “Bells,” which is laden with Susman’s groovy vocals and her Snoopy-Gone-Wild-on-the-piano antics. She vigorously runs up and down the keys like Jerry Lee Lewis in “Great Balls of Fire.”
Using the perfect blend of clean & distorted guitars the song, “Two for Joy” sounds strikingly similar to the long lost 4AD band, The Pale Saints’ song called “Site of You.” In the beginning of “If Not Now When?” is led by ascending and descending piano scales and is later met by distorted guitar, which fuses classical music into a fevered rock jam. Memories of Parisian Gnome travels from Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s film, “Amelie” come to mind on “Eight Steps,” which begins with a duo of accordions weaving melodies against a steady beat.
The moonlit sound of a locomotive’s horn through a tunnel brings us to the moody strings of “Gone Darker.” This track waxes its way further and further through the tunnel and is met with Susman‘s saxophone debut and the rumbling of Emma Gaze’s low and building beat.
“Atom’s Tomb” is a multi-layered track of instruments building in cadence with a fevered tempo. “Business or Otherwise” could be Electelane’s tribute to Steve Albini’s Rapeman’s “Two Nuns and a Pack Mule.” Sporadic bursts of bass, guitar, and kick drum hit in unison, triggered randomly by no particular time measure.
The noisy Sonic Youth inspired “Those pockets are People” seamlessly blends mid-climax into the following track “The Partisan,” which introduces some more of Susman‘s highly cherished vocals. Things finally breathe again on the delicately played banjo intro of “I Keep Losing Heart,” which builds into a pleasant, mellow groove filled with choired voices like “The Power Is Out”’s gem track “The Valleys.”
Next up is the briefest track in history, by my recollection. Clocking in at seven seconds and entitled “Come Back,” it briefly whistles its way into the nine-minute finale called “Suite Case.” After two minutes of piano noodling, the cat is let out of the bag, or suitcase in this matter. Mia’s guitar, Susman‘s vocal harmonies, and Ros‘s solid bass line, cradled within Emma‘s beat, keep us rocking for another two minutes until things slow down for a organ introduction and a time change. The song switches time from the 4/4 rock beat to a Rock-A-Bye 3/4 beat of a waltz then powerfully builds up again to the album’s climatic ending where the well-missed choir of voices comes sweeping in at the final moments.
“Axes” is loud and experimental, with dynamic changes in volume. Songs seamlessly intertwine with one another and change time signatures. As I am writing this review I am 7 miles above the earth, on an airplane, which, ironically sounds similar to where the Brighton girls might have been when they wrote “Axes:” Approximately 37,000 feet off the ground! It’s not that this album isn’t a great piece of music, but it’s not something I would want on heavy rotation on my iPod. This composition lends itself to a live performance. I recently attended an Electelane live show at The Bowery Ballroom and it was amazing! It had great lighting, visuals, and effects, and the girls put on an excellent show. I highly recommend catching a show from “Axes” tour, but as far as an album goes, I find myself missing the balanced compositions and harmonious voices from “The Power Is Out.” So if “Axes” is what it’s like to have the Power On . . . Then turn it off! |