The Boxer Rebellion - 'Exits' (Poptones)
3/5
By: Thomas Hannan
What sounds like Wolf Eyes for the opening fifty five seconds, then Oasis for the remaining four minutes? The first track on 'Exits', that's what. Kurt Cobain and Jeff Buckley thinks Nathan Nicholson of his particular vocal ability, but nay, there's definitely more than a little of the Gallagher here, a smattering of the Ashcroft to boot. Get beyond that, you realise there's a great song happening. The song Oasis should have come back with. The feedback-soaked, paranoid pummel of a record that they will never, ever write.
Seeing as we have this now, perhaps they don't need to. The Boxer Rebellion are a queer prospect. They have the sound of a smack to the head but the melodies of a Britpop revival, just hidden behind a very thick squall. They can't be anthems, for the noise won't let them. It has control here, but they try to work it, craft notes out of its mist. A haze of feedback later and we've reached 'All You Do Is Talk' without even noticing, another attempt to fight the racket they've learned to love, to craft an something to be bellowed by millions out of something otherwise destined for Hades. The fight is eternal, and quite the entertaining battle.
It's a drowsy, cloudy listen, but a comfortable one, one replete with merits. 'Never Knowing How Or Why' is one of them, the stylish, driving force of a man who'd really rather not use his cymbals unless absolutely necessary and an axe man who thinks the way to get you to love reverb is to keep using it until you succumb or pass out combining to be both sonically intriguing and melodically rewarding. It happens similarly in the impressive 'We Have This Place Surrounded', which lies to you with a minute of sparse, quiet guitar stroking before that now customary wall of sound appears on the horizon. 'Cowboys and Engines' is special too - turn the reverb down on it and you've got something that could twinkle like Buckley Jr. did, keep it where it is and it encapsulates in the way Oceansize do. Kindred spirits, these two.
Another side to it, and one you'll be less likely to spend as much time dissecting, is the part of them that exists purely to play quickly strummed and frantically drummed rock music with little to save it other than it shows an energetic side to counter the mesmerising sleepiness of the rest of the record. 'The New Heavy' sounds neither fresh nor particularly weighty, 'Watermelon' like something standard without ever being particularly exciting. But things like 'The Absentee' save it, the places where they don't sound like other people.
So where from here? The options are plentiful. They could learn to stop worrying and love the noise, write the pop songs that the veil of din faintly shields or perfect the act of not really caring for either camp and reside in a potentially exciting middle-ground. And if they do that, maybe, just maybe, they'll be the best bloody band in the world.
Artists in this article: The Boxer Rebellion
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment