There’s something to be said for consistency in an album. On one hand, you can have a record with a bunch of equally crappy songs, while on the other you could have pure gold in every track. Tokyo Police Club’s first LP falls somewhere in the middle of those two options. While Elephant Shell isn’t breaking any new ground with its Bloc Party-meets-Arctic Monkeys-meets-The Strokes vibe, each song is crafted with enough panache to get the listener through with a nodding head and tapping foot.
But that’s where the good ends. Elephant Shell is just that: good enough to get you through 11 songs in less than 30 minutes. In fact, I found myself getting lost from song to song, wondering if I had somehow skipped forward or back by accident. These kids definitely have their sound and songwriting down, but to me it’s at their detriment. One track runs right into the next with pretty much the same uptempo drums, electronica overkill, and meandering vocals. Pepper in some handclaps and group shouts and you’ve made your way from the opener “Centennial”, into XM fave “Tessellate”, and out the door with “The Baskervilles”.
Don’t get me wrong, TPC will definitely find itself on the better end of the recent wave of 20-something bands playing on the heartstrings of 15-something year old kids who are looking for the newest fad band. But Elephant Shell will serve better as background music at a scene party rather than the only CD in your car.
Genre: Indie/Rock
RIYL: Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes
Label: Saddle Creek
Tessellate
In A Cave
