There are a lot of bands making music like Wake The President; there are very few who are doing it quite so well as them. Where many bands sound like a cackhanded tribute to Belle and Sebastian’s first two albums, Wake The President have the rich melodic textures of Maurice Deebank-era Felt, the chiming guitar pop of Aztec Camera and the whip-smart lyrical pen of Edwyn Collins.Wry smiles all round at the titular pun of Just Give Me Two Secs when the yearning bedroom indiepop has the refrain of “just give me to sex” and on the early Orange Juice soulful pop of Miss Tierney which has the knowing line “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”.
Miss Tierney is their finest moment to date and the grand centrepiece of this confident debut. It’ll be released as a single next month and will undoubtedly bring WTP to a larger audience. New fans will be richly rewarded by You Can’t Change That Boy; long-term fans, however, might feel a little short-changed that all three previous WTP singles are also included on this ten-track album.
3 comments:
I was more disappointed that the singles included where re-recorded in not as playful versions
There is a whiff of gearing this album to a much larger market; while I do like it - and it will certainly sound sweet to newcomers who've been listening to tired dross like Fleet Foxes - I predict that it'll be the second album from which we'll get the real measure and substance of WTP.
In complete agreement with you, F.E.T. There's a degree of melodic invention, lyrical thoughtfulness and endearing irreverence (without tipping over into wackiness) here that places it above most indiepop albums I've heard in at least five years. I don't imagine they're going to be a secret of the underground much longer.
-Michael White
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