|
TOKYO POLICE CLUB “I’m running out of space, so let me sum this up for you,” bassist David Monks appeals on “Centennial,” the opening track on Elephant Shell, his band’s full-length debut. The song, a few seconds shy of two minutes, can be read as a mission statement for Tokyo Police Club. The Ontario band works briskly, with terse and spirited execution. Its songs are stylishly post-punk but simple and almost indistinguishable from one another, usually beginning with walloping drums and off-kilter guitar leads. The formula works, however, and TPC rarely deviates from it. The band can momentarily slow things down, as on “The Harrowing Adventures Of...,” which features the softer touch of a xylophone. But even as the song drifts, it never gets too dreary. Its backing beat and handclaps give it the good-time aura of a Jock Jam, an aesthetic (if you can call it that) that reappears on the rollicking “Your English Is Good.” What makes Elephant Shell unique, however, is not what it possesses but what it lacks. The album is filled with melody and mass appeal while devoid of memorable vocal hooks. Elephant Shell shows a band holding the chorus in contempt, a novel-yet-questionable disregard for such a poppy outfit. Tokyo Police Club seems fixated on immediate gratification and continuous bursts of energy, but most of its songs never reach a satisfying climax. As unsettled as this experiment feels by the album’s conclusion, it’s a commendable exploration, not to mention time-effective. [Saddle Creek, www.saddle-creek.com] —Matt Siblo
|
