Good Shoes - Think Before You Speak (Brille)
3/5
By: Matt Tomiak
Untidy, unkempt, unpolished- but defiantly unapologetic. They may not be the most refined of bands, but Good Shoes' endearingly expressive jangle has a certain gloomy charm.
Equally indebted to contemporary inner-city storytellers such as The Rakes, Jamie T, Larrikin Love and Battle as well Britrock heroes of the past, 'Think Before You Speak' is a unremittingly downbeat account of young urban life in the early 21st century. At times it resembles a 'Modern Life Is Rubbish' for the noughties - only, it's even more pessimistic.
The band's relentlessly desolate worldview brings to mind the perennially hapless Fast Show character Unlucky Alf. Actually, all that's missing at the end of certain tracks -like the forlorn tale of bungled nightclub romance 'Sophia' or 'We Are Not The Same'- is a disconsolate cry of 'Oh, BUGGER!'
The album is epitomized by 'Morden', a track infused with a supremely bleak world-weariness that belies the bands' youth. Here, we find singer Rhys Jones casting a gloomy observational eye across south-west London a la Paul Weller in The Jam's 'That's Entertainment.' Jones surveys the 'Superdrugs and KFCs', the multiple discount outlets lining the high street, the drunken karaoke singers, the lairy locals, and summons up precious little in the way of civic pride.
A sense of detached ennui (and a connection with the Modfather) continues with the equally cheerless 'In The City.' The influence of the punk big-hitters continues: the chiming, anxious 'Never Meant To Hurt You' hints at the Buzzcocks; the jittery 'Photos On My Wall' resembles XTC. 'Ice Age' nicks that riff from the Sex Pistols' 'Pretty Vacant', whilst adding a seemingly interminable litany of grievances (I'm the one who makes mistakes/I'm the one who can't say sorry/I get bored far too easily/I watch TV 'cos I'm lazy). With 'Blue Eyes', meanwhile, they come on - unlikely as it may seem- akin to a UK version of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, with Jones adopting a nasal, transatlantic wail.
Uplifting it certainly isn't- and a spot of hopefulness might not necessarily have been a bad thing on what is an incessantly glum record. But an acute lack of optimism doesn't detract from a decent debut album.
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