Medium 21 - 'Killings From The Dial' (Temptation)
3/5
By: Toby L
What in the name of garage-rock is this? Non-subscribers to a current scene..? Indie?! Pah!
Forgetting the purists/scene-followers for a moment, however - and, sometimes, it's those that fly out of the blue that truly provide much of the colour in contemporary music; did Radiohead ever choose to follow fashion? Their provincial choice of clothes reveals the answer in that one. From a similar school of thought and evangelists of individuality then, Medium 21, the first band to release a record on Simon 'Fierce Panda' Williams' major-label bolt-on imprint, Temptation Records, are Northampton's finest band ever. Beyond that, they're possibly one of the most excitingly unique UK guitar-acts for a veritable age.
Don't expect to see it at first, though. 'Grower' is a term that must be associated with 'Killings From The Dial': a record so richly composed and deeply engaging, albeit brooding, that its sheer paranoia-pop is one that may not be fully received in one mere, serious headphones-session.
They open grandly with chilling slow-burner 'Plight Of Losing Out', stride into a searing 'Junctions In Our Sleep' and hit melodic-gold in recent single, 'Daybreak Vs. Pride', a location where creepy synths nestle amongst a chugging guitar-riff that SFA would stir over. All in a manner of minutes. It could prove stodgy, if it weren't for the fact that M21 understand the glory of a hook and a quick running-time; consequentially, their ideas transmit coherently, if a little Harry Potter-esque darkly from time-to-time.
Best of the batch is the uninhibited, distortion chaos of 'The Cable & The Cars', the Clinic-homage 'Acting Like A Mirror', or subtler blend of '21 madness, 'Poisoned Postcards' and a genuinely moving 'Black And White Summer' or 'Albert Ross'. Facts derived from such matter - namely, that frontman John Clough is the most deranged, shamelessly peculiar lead-singer of a Brit-band in what seems too long, and that his compositions are, to our benefit, the most ambitiously-packed pieces of exuberant guitar-bewilderment to take flight in a current scene of otherwise predictable fast-risers.
An uncompromising, fulfilling entrance, let's cross our fingers that the time up to their extravagant exit is just as enthralling, and unconsciously daring.
Artists in this article: Medium 21
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