XX Teens - Welcome To Goon Island (Mute)
4/5
By: Yousif Nur
Goon Island. Population around 60 million, with tendencies to drink in excess, fawn over z-list celebrities and over-hype undeserving, overpaid sportsmen. If this by now doesn't sound as though it's not too dissimilar to our own fair isles, we've wasted our time writing this up. For you see, Goon Island is a representation of a metaphorical picture the XX Teens paint for Britainnia for their long-awaited debut album, Welcome To Goon Island.
There are varying degrees of familiarity and new beginnings to it all, with at least three singles lifted to date, 'Onkawara', 'Darlin'' and latest 45, 'The Way We Were'. New band members have transformed XX Teens from being a little two-dimensional musically with a clutter of samples and an unflattering Fall-like aura (and that's being polite - to be really harsh, one might go as far as to say they used to sound quite flat, certainly live anyhow) as ...Goon Island certainly dispels those traits with a huge splatter of technicolor and a considerable depth. It's also worth noting that the producer at the helm of the album, Ross Orton (M.I.A., Bromheads Jacket) lends a fine helping hand in laying down these new licks of coloured paint over what is a glossy record of sorts.
Opener 'The Way We Were' introduces itself with strumming of lush harps, while the psychedelic-influenced 'Sun Comes Up' and 'Ba (Ba-Ba-Ba)' have fanfare aplenty, the latter becoming a joyous affair opposed to the previously available version, which was a little impassive, certainly benefiting from this kiss of life. All their previous singles have been re-worked with new ideas, new vigour and new labour. Actually, less of the latter thanks very much.
The finale, 'For Brian Haw', is more or less split into two parts. The first is a messy, rambunctious noise, the latter an altogether poignant eulogy from the peace activist Brian Haw himself recorded on Parliament Square. Haw explains how he as a person is responsible for the looting of nations, genocide, torture and infanticide caused in Iraq and worldwide, just for being born in Britain. We won't go into detail, but all we'll say is that if you're not left with the gut feeling that you haven't made enough of a difference in the world we live in, you're crippled with an overwhelming feeling of guilt.
So Welcome To Goon Island surprises us with new twists in musical variety. A trip or two would be most welcome anytime.
Artists in this article: XX Teens
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