++ALBUM++ review by Cindy Suzuki
Cindy Suzuki finds a grinning soul at the centre of The Laurel Collective, as they unleash their debut mini album...
Whoever invented maths rock should be drugged into the street and shot, as Garfield might suggest. Because while alot of these bands that 'design' their sound according to 'mysterious' codes might make for chin stroking interviews... they don't half sound like dehumanized stiffs.
Enter stage left The Laurel Collective - an exotic and weird rock group. Hailing from Wales, England, Nigeria and Italy, their new LP is like acid toothpaste on the sizzling teeth of self importance.
"with experimental patterns being shredded through big hearts, you can't go far wrong..."
That's not to say that they're a cute pop group, mind. 'Gun Mouth' is the sound of rock 'n roll being played by an Amazonian bongo band, and sung by a ranting TV evangelist. 'International Love Affair' is like a weeping Morrissey being shot out of a canon at a Japanese Sea Monster.
On first listen they seem like a contemporary art-rock group: anti-rhythms giving way to huge melodies, blase vocals giving way to attacks of intensity. But the added bonus with The Laurel Collective is their willingness to turn silliness into a spaced-out virtue.
Everything is topped off brilliantly with the finale 'Printers', which starts off back in the Amazonian rain forest, then leads us into some kind of 007 espionage thriller, before climaxing with the kind of beautiful fuzz rock that makes you wanna hold someone's hand tightly.
This first release isn't all hit -hit- hit ('Epsilons' wanders about a bit before it takes off) but with experimental patterns being shredded through big hearts, you can't go far wrong. The Laurel Collective are fun, un-contrived... and humanized.
++ Cindy Suzuki ++
Artrocker rating: 4
The newest sounds as heard in the Artrocker Office and our Resonance FM podcast.
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