The Webb Brothers - 'The Webb Brothers' (679)
3/5
By: Toby L
'The world is big... The world is round,' dreamily slur the conjoined vox of The Webb Brothers. Well, duh.
But underestimate them from thereon in at your delinquent peril; James, Christiaan and Justin, plus gathered consortium of producers and back-up musicians, have comprised the most bright, sunny and melodic indie-record of the withering autumn.
Druggy, classic, and akin to the Super Furry Animals had they actually hailed from the West Coast and derived cocaine as their god, the Webbs combine doting, quirky keyboards with restlessly tuneful, thunderous pop-odes ('A Funny Kind Of Music'), and, through their lack of cohesive sanity, are all the more marvellous for it.
Throughout, much like the band's previous efforts - 'Beyond The Biodome' and glimmering majesty of 'Maroon' - the twelve tracks pulsate with produced-finesse, sweet, pretty melodies and spacey interludes of swathing, basking chunks of 21st Century psychedelia. When they churn through the atmospheric swoop of 'Just As Sweet', they come on like a Stateside Doves, whilst the drifty, country-like contemplativeness of 'I've Been Waiting' showcases an earnestness and traditionalism of musicians only too keen to meld the contemporary with the dynamics and smoky ballroom-sized grandeur of the past.
A trip further enhanced by the hallucinating, paranoid-jazz of 'Jonesy Vs The Apocalypse', zapping synths of a distortion-thrashing 'Ms. Moriarty', swirling haunt of 'The Chill', acoustic-slumber of 'Who Wants To Get High?', and beauteous piano-tinkling within the epic, orchestral 'Bitten By Snakes', the only asset holding back the Bros' long-overdue ascent to stardom is the sheer, out there obscurity of their produce: one so shape-shifting and multifarious, its very genius is the complexity which prevents its denoting of a widespread-audience.
Tragic, as - when on form - The Webb Brothers are sumptuous and a radical audio-delight - seemingly, though, at the cost of missing out on captivating the spoon-fed mainstream.
Artists in this article: The Webb Brothers
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