Relaxed Muscle - 'A Heavy Night With...' (Rough Trade)
3/5
By: Toby L
Something's wrong. Jarvis Cocker has got a new group, Relaxed Muscle - an open joke, obviously - and... and... it's... really good.
Yes, we're shocked, too - the fact that someone as famously endowed in the humour-vein as Cocker is able to summon something by his standards witty and amusing, yet still allow it to rock vigorously, as paramount in a debut-album guise as any similar, mildly dark electro-rock outing of 2003.
With his co-hort Richard Hawley in tow, the muso-dynamic stakes are in good stead. But it's still f**king hysterical in good measure - take 'Beastmaster', where a costumed Cocker - aka Darren Spooner in this new imprint - enquires, 'Are you house-trained,' prior to proclaiming, 'I wanna stroke yer...' It's as sultry as TV antiques-man David Dickenson inviting you out for an evening of wine and cheese.
The humorous lines or quirky sound-effects aside (and there are a helluva lot of 'em), and it still stands up - the cheeky guitar struts of 'Let It Ride', sleazy undertones of 'B-Real' and OTT downtrodden-ness of 'Mary' all gyrating, instant warmers. Opener and seething anthem 'The Heavy' is dark and bleary, and 'Muscle Music' is a stomping, early-80s gem in the making. There's hardly a blunder in sight.
An avant-garde, Halloween treat then, though this may be at times a brooding sesh of blaring, pulsing beats and trickery, it's the masterful grasp of the song that Cocker's input eagerly draws in. A heavy night in store, seemingly, yet one you'll cherish passionately.
Artists in this article: Relaxed Muscle
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