Econoline - 'Music Is Stupid' (Seriously Groovy)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
Every once in a while comes a momentous discovery. Be it gravity, or the Valley of the Kings, it's usually something that's been there a good while until some lucky beggar unearths it and calls it their own. Econoline are coming close to the surface. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to start digging. Almost certainly, you'll want a piece of this. Oh yes; just like the apple that gave Isaac Newton his finest hour, 'Music Is Stupid' hits you straight in the face, but harder. It's no exaggeration to say that discovering the new LP from Econoline gives us a glimpse into what old Isaac must have felt that day. This, in no uncertain terms, is big news.
Bewilderingly, this is the debut album from the London-based four-piece. Keep that fact in mind, as it will become more bizarre with every track. For a first record, it's astonishingly accomplished, the idea of mediocre material banished far from thought. Instead, what we're gifted is just under forty minutes of unrefined, noisy, tender genius.
Opener 'The C and the G' sums up the group perfectly; two heart-warming minutes of gorgeous, twinkling guitars, suddenly cut into by Ian Scanlon's fragile but perfectly suited vocals that signal the arrival of an intense but oddly melodic racket... After something quite so luscious, how could you not want more?
Recently undergoing tours with the likes of The Dismemberment Plan and Engine Down was obviously a journey that rubbed off musically on the group. They borrow Engine Down's intensity and display brilliant examples of punk the way the early 'Plan used to do it, especially on excellent forthcoming single 'I'm Plagued'. Thankfully though, it never once feels as if you're listening to people simply trying to imitate idols: this is something fresh, something new. It has a sense of humour, too - the fantastic 'Ounces and Ounces of Solid Goodness' not only provides the album with a high point, but features a title that pretty much reviews itself.
Its brilliance partly lies in its combined ability to sometimes grate at the soul with guitars that sound like they're quickly rusting away (as on 'Full Tar'), whilst at other moments cleverly employing barely audible lyrics and sparse instrumentation to create something as emotionally draining as 'Missing From Pictures', which proves all on its own that lush string-arrangements and polished production are by no means a requirement for assembling graceful, heartfelt music.
Conclusively, few albums could prove their own titles wrong as convincingly as 'Music Is Stupid' does. It very nearly has everything. You could fall asleep to it, scream your lungs out to it, hell, you could probably dance to it if you really wanted to, although the shapes you'd have to throw to get down to this album would likely conjure up all kinds of ungodly demons that are possibly best left where they are. Even saving the best 'til last, stunning closer 'Buddy Bradley' is possibly one of the finest demented, fizzing, shouting beasts of a song you will ever hear. It's a fitting end to a near-masterpiece.
Thankfully, Econoline have throughout resisted what must have been a temptation to jump on a passing 'emo' bandwagon, in preference of opting to drive one themselves. Stand at the side of the road and beg for a lift.
Artists in this article: Econoline
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