Race Horses Goodbye Falkenburg (Fantastic Plastic)
4/5
By: Liane Escorza
When opening the post as a reviewer, with a mixture of heavy duty and delight, it is quite uncommon to find a CD that strikes you as a curious one right off the bat - in terms of packaging first and musical content next. This was the case of Race Horses, a Welsh band presenting their debut album Goodbye Falkenburg.
On the surface, they are a fresh but ragged around the edges breed upstarts, with strong musical influences taken from both post- and glam-rock, tropicalia and psychedelic pop from the likes of The Beatles, Suicide and The Beach Boys. Their unique sense of humour in the treatment of vocals and the chaotic background of recorded noises taken from parties, nature and animals sets them at least slightly apart from their contemporaries. Yet it is a whole list of other extras added into the songs that make this album an interesting one to listen to once more.
Firstly, their lyrics are truly adventurous, touching topics as varied and awkwardly random as food, mental illness, nautical themes and derailed love (‘Man in My Mind’, that one). Secondly, the band’s frank bravery to sing in Welsh in a few songs is to be commended, confident as they are that their music will surpass any linguistic barriers. And third is the fact that each song has been filled with the most surprising natural field sounds you could ever imagine, taken from zoos (‘Discopig’) to chapels to eco-villages, all combined with zig-zagging changes of pace, style and instrumentation (‘Cacen Mamgu’ and ‘Intergalactiv Space Rebellion’).
The result is cheeky, ambitious and manic – and absolutely nothing to do with the bird-based theme of the packaging that caught my eye.
Artists in this article: Race Horses
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