While Interpol’s new album seems to be garnering the attention this week, I happened to pick up an album that blows it away: Fade Back In, by the Contrast. They’re not exactly a retro-postpunk band, though at times their songs (like the aptly titled “Functional Punk Pop Song”) have the taut drive of Franz Ferdinand or Interpol. And lead singer David Reid’s vocals share more than a little of Idlewild’s nasel, gravely quality. But on top of this, the Contrast layer Byrdsian arpeggio-ed guitar work reminiscent of the Soft Boys or R.E.M. in their prime. Whether in the straight-on rockers (”George Zipp”, “Flatpacked”) or the pop jewels (”Give Me One More Chance”, “Catch the Spark”), the combination really works and sounds fresh. And “Disconnected” has to be the best album closer I’ve heard in years, a start-stop bridge that gives way to a swirling, majestic hook. Go to their record label’s site and take a listen to some of their songs. These guys deserve to be far better known than they are.
The Contrast happen to be standouts in my book, but they’re also a sign of something bigger: the return of interesting indie rock on the British scene. After Britpop’s demise (forestalled only briefly by Oasis-inspired tradrock), indie rock floundered. A much-diminished scene seemed dominated by ballady Radiohead knockoffs like Coldplay, Travis and Muse, or were quirky loners like Badly Drawn Boy and the Doves. A scene centered around Glasgow, too, but in many ways it was more popular in the States and more tuned in to American music trends than British.
But now provincial cities are lending shining examples of smart, postpunk-infused guitar rock: Clinic, British Sea Power, the Contrast, Seachange. And a number of bands (e.g. Electrelane and the Projects) are taking the electroclash sound popular here in a less archly hip direction. Unlike their American counterparts, these acts lack the simplified stompiness that have made the Strokes and the White Stripes such surprise successes. Only Franz Ferdinand arrived radio-ready.
I have no idea how these bands are received in Britain. But something coherent does seem to be brewing in their musical borders and it’s a refreshing development for those of us who have looked across the pond for new sounds and have been sorely disappointed at the recent dry spell.
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