Shooting At Unarmed Men - Yes! Tinnitus (Too Pure)
3/5
By: Chris O'Toole
In 2005 Shooting At Unarmed Men began with 'Soon There Will Be...' a release witnessing the band skirting the edges of their potential sound and experimenting with a diverse pallet of styles without settling for more than a moment on any specific design. After the sustained razor wire sharpness of Mclusky this diversity was surprising, showing Jon Chapple's willingness to relax the restrictions of his former outfit, modifying his patent sound ready for a new venture. 'Yes! Tinnitus!' is a continuation of this process, again featuring the spasmodic rock and taut lyrics of earlier recordings, but here presenting these elements in a more controlled manner, attempting to focus on the bands strengths and file some of the mistakes away for future development.
Chapple, formerly the disorderly and menacing ginger presence masquerading as the bass player at the edge of the stage, here takes to the spotlight with remarkable aplomb demonstrating the important contribution he made to his former band. His caustic wit fills the album with threatening throw away vitriol, veering from sly, sneering, comments addressed to specific targets, including the United Nations, through to outright threats aimed at all who care to listen. His persona on this recording is that of a hysterical drunk, filled with desperation, scowling from a perch above a bar room brawl which he may well have instigated, and continues to draw reference from his predecessors including Big Black and the Birthday Party.
At the centre of the bands sound are Simon Jarvis' marauding bass lines, which climb all over and around the album. These canyon deep structures pervade 'Yes! Tinnitus!', providing the bedrock for the album, allowing Chapell to control the tempo of the record with his scathing guitar. 'A Horse by Day Is a Horse by Night' demonstrates this and is complemented by the virgin tight, snare heavy drumming of Steve Morgan. Again on 'All Hail Sergio' these attributes ensure the enthralling momentum is maintained. But it's when Shooting At Unarmed Men sacrifice this aggressive dynamic to the softer side of their nature that the album begins to sag. 'Put Yourself on the Proverbial' wanders aimlessly along the streets looking at its shoes and 'Never Follow Me Again' threatens to follow a similar path before the track awakens from its slumber like a tired animal raising itself for one more fight.
At times the album feels it could leap off stage and garrotte you with strings ripped from the guitars, and at others merely staggers along in a maudlin fashion. The group understand their strengths and at times it is frustrating to see them drifting so far from their potential and into slower, melodramatic, pieces which dilute the flow of the album. The final track 'In-flight Instructions Are A Joke, Say I', neatly encapsulates this diversity. Here the band reprises material from both 'Soon There Will Be...' and 'Yes! Tinnitus' to create a medley of their work to date, which is an initially a rewarding process, but the edge of the track is blunted by a lack of direction. The diversity shown here and throughout the album is affably charming at first but ultimately disorienting, even frustrating as the group continues the experiments without coming to conclusions.
Artists in this article: Shooting At Unarmed Men
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