One of the joys of listening to The Smiths is the struggle that goes on between its two creative forces. As much as Johnny Marr’s ringing pop instrumentals seem to mesh perfectly with Morrissey’s biting insights and flamboyant persona, the diversity of their musical personalities are always at war with each other. The first thing that you need to know about New York’s The Isles’, is that they may sound a lot like The Smiths, but their sound captures four musicians working together and not against each other, to make great pop music. Throughout the Isles’ stellar debut album, Perfumed Lands the band re- interpreters The Smiths sound in a set of songs that show the influence, of post-millennial New York rock and roll as much as early british indie.
As smooth and effortlessly tuneful as all the songs on Perfumed Lands are, each component of the band’s playing are the product of careful arrangements. Complex guitar lines intermingle with inverted drumming and melody charged baselines creating a dense pallet for lead singer Andrew Gellar’s stilted higher register to float through. Lyrically, Gellar retains a lot of Moz’s self effacing charm, filling each song arresting images and ideas that hit indirectly at the urban ennui he feels, and the romantic fulfillment he seeks. In the hazy prose that runs through “Our Kitchen Tent”, Gellar sings “everything becomes spoken for/I’ve spent a lot of time in the belly of a whale/I’ve doubted your existence before/but then ideas make better dreams.” Granted, this is not a conventionally romantic plea, but amidst the ringing guitars and skittish drums the words comes off as a tenderly neurotic omission of love in spite of past resistance. Some of the most exciting parts of Gellar’s lyrics come when he stops thinking with his head as on standout track “We Gave a Receipt”. Backed by slowly churning guitars Gellar begins ” the faster I fall forward, the farther I fall behind”, and once the guitar begins to jangle, he asks “the park at night screams - do what you want to?” With Gellar’s emotions thrown into the dense guitar sound, The Isles are armed with enough variety and textures to keep each pop gem fresh and exciting thought. Highlights include the sophisticated dance floor frenzy of “Summer Loans”, the XTC-influenced “Tropical Lamby”, and the perfectly balanced vocals and crystalline playing of standout single “Major Arcana”.
The effervescence and pop smarts that The Isles deliver come as a breathe of fresh air in an indie scene that is so often dominated by spastic playing, boring lyrical come-ones, and excessively flashy drum fills. One can only hope that The Isles continue to build on the dynamics that they’ve worked on throughout Perfumed Lands, and perhaps, inspire other bands to follow their directions towards jangle and away from murk. If they keep it up, the indie scene might have a new genre: C-06. |