Hey, a new Franz Ferdinand album? Oh wait, it's Art Brut. Seriously, can it get any closer? I guarantee you play "Pump the Volume" to the average Franzie and he'll swear up and down that it's gotta be them. Even the vocal inflection sounds ridiculously alike. It may seem unfair to criticize Art Brut for sounding like Franz Ferdinand (and Bloc Party, for that matter) when Franz borrowed heavily from all sorts of other groups…and the fact that all these acts sprang up at roughly the same time. But the UK is so full of these bands now that someone needs to stop them. Preferably now because in about twenty minutes I'm going to be sick of all of ‘em.
As the Art Wave continues to roll dominant over the post-punk/garage rock niche, Art Brut does what they gotta do even while they sound like a band just formed last Tuesday. They even had a 2004 single called "Formed a Band," like it was done on a whim based on the artsy post-punk that was on the sharp rise. Oh, and that mildly enjoyable but not particularly distinguishable record is better than anything on this sophomore full-length. That they would take the "too clever to be clever" modus operandi as far as this (and on much of the slightly fresher Bang Bang Rock & Roll) is the very reason why they have no chance of surviving for much longer. I would mourn them if I would actually miss them. Meat is meat, but well-done ain't rare. It's a Bit Complicated is medium, boiled and left to dry under a heat lamp most of the way through, though they find some bloody goodness on parts of "St. Pauli" and "Late Sunday Evening." Even "I Will Survive" manages a rolling beat that chugs along nicely beneath the sharp blasts. Too bad a lot of the rest is stringy and grey.
"Pump Up the Volume" has the same sort of snarky humor that Elvis Costello displayed with his similarly titled "Pump It Up," but the latter made you act against the instincts of the lyrics and, well pump it up (not in the way Elvis meant, though). "Volume" floats by with the urgency of drying paint. It's punchy, the almost-bored enthusiasm is marked off, and the rhythm is clearly defined—it just never gels into a sticky melody. And singer Eddie Argos becomes insufferable over the long haul—too jaded to inspire good times, too blank to be a ratty rouser, and almost entirely uncharismatic. The words need more wit and the tempos need more variety.
Franz should be able to do it better...damn it, I did it again. It's unfair really. If Art Brut came first, I might say similar things about the others. Except that Franz does it better, with more style, drollness and hooks, and their, ahem, art is more brutish. This just sounds like the slick knockoff without the properly tuned spirit and energy. Luckily, I'm not disgusted by it, just disinterested. It zips by with neither imprint nor identity. I can’t imagine too many could actually hate this stuff, but it's time to move on to something else at this point. After all of these bands and so little change to the formula, the next Franz record is going to automatically sound like crap.
4 out of 10
The new "From the Archives" feature on JPP will showcase album reviews ranging from recent history to the distant past. As they are culled “from the archives,” they will not look back beyond the moment the review was first written but will instead represent the first impression and impact of each album.
