THE FIRST MUSIC REVIEW I’M HOSTING HERE. SUBJECT WISE, IT’S FAIRLY INAUSPICIOUS.
FIRST PUBLISHED IN SEREN, AUTUMN 2006
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White Rose Movement – Kick
So I didn’t get to review the Mystery Jets album. I end up with WhRoMo instead. And there we are, off to an uneasy start. But objectivity and reviewing records are handsome bedfellows, so I’ll try to get over the bitter pangs of jealousy. White Rose Movement are a fairly new band (formed in 2002), and ‘Kick’ is their new record, their first. They are produced by the still newish Paul Epworth, who, to a certain type of music fan, is something of a genius, having done some stuff on the sound desk for Bloc Party, The Rakes and Plan B. With White Rose Movement, his reputation for producing clean, dancey, 80’s indie-wards gazing music remains intact, the band cribbing all sorts of new wave moves from their forebears. Joy Division AND New Order’s basslines, Depeche Mode’s synths, The Cure’s strangulated vocals and The Rapture’s percussion (minus saucy cowbells) all come together in fashionable harmony to create what, on paper, is indie dance floor nirvana. Yet the clinical, precise nature of this mix leaves the album forever at arms length, a cold creation, something that takes itself far too seriously to be loveable.
There’s still some perverse joy to be had from the camp drama of it all, opener Kick, shameless ‘Transmisison’ rip (and first single) ‘Love Is A Number’ and ‘London’s Mine’ all eating the right disco biscuits. A kind of marketable Ultravox if you will. It’s insubstantial though, unable to provide any new thrills, spills or inventive sounds over its course. My bitterness remains, somewhat sharp and lemony. Meaning what exactly? Yes, White Rose Movement are musical CIF.
