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Review |
The Riverclub
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CD Title:
Long Before I Reach The Phone
Genre:
Pop punk / synth / Emo
# of Tracks:
5 (Mini album)
Release Date:
Out now
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Reviewed on Jan 18, 2006
by Gary Lancaster (Gary).
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The United Kingdom seemingly has a horrible, horrible trait of unleashing prefabricated copycat artists from our trans-Atlantic cousins. You know what I’m talking about. Busted... McFly… yes, Son of Dork too. So when a band appears who could invariably go straight to the top with their radio friendly pop infused punk, but don’t compromise their musical roots by auditioning for the band, or dare I say it writing songs about Thunderbirds, I can’t help but sit up and listen.
The Riverclub, although hardly one of the longer established acts in the UK scene right now are making waves none the less… hand picked to support Fightstar and generally being hotly tipped for big things, they refrain from being particularly inventive but instead rely on what they know… clearly putting their efforts into being good at it. Synth driven pop punk, the English way. Their mini album ‘Long Before I Reach The Phone’ landed on my desk and hasn’t left the CD player for a few days now… It’s interesting, to say the least.
Track one ‘We’re on Empty Again’ starts slowly but implodes into a Jimmy Eat World-esque fashion, but incorporates the bold and confident very ENGLISH vocal talents of Dan Quanstrom. Talents, being the operative word. The young singers vocals are rough and uneven; it compliments perfectly the practised, perfected musical talent of the band. It’s the ying, to their yang. It’s quite refreshing, and certainly addictive.
‘Call If You Want To’ follows, and demonstrates the ability the band have to truly cover a spectrum of genres. It’s almost funky, a stop start feel to the song keeps you interested and the breakdown not even a minute in leads you gracefully into a chorus you’ll be singing back in your head for hours. This stuff is not new by any means, but when put together as perfectly as this, you can’t help but admire.
‘My Girl, God is she beautiful’ however goes on up and above the previous two tracks and presents a song worthy of any pop rock fans ipod. A combination of hefty guitar riffs and a synth driven bridge make this song beyond memorable.
‘The Sunshine Coast’ is a song, which has been floating around for ages. From the early days this was posted as a demo so I had a rough idea of what to expect it but it’s got to be handed to Jason Perry of ‘A’ fame, who produced this record, he’s done wonders with the track and the band should be proud of it. It might not be the stand out track of the album for the majority of people, but it’s an old classic for some of us, and it’s great to hear it in its revitalised form.
The last track ‘Escape from Keyboard City’ evokes the use of the synth somewhat more substantially than the rest of the tracks and leaves something to be desired in terms of melody; letting down the album in it’s entirety, but at the same time acting as a reminder that this band has a lot to offer, not limiting them selves to playing one specific type of pop punk; divisions do exist; and this is certainly a niche worth exploiting.
The Riverclub are succeeding where other bands have failed; The Reunion Show come to mind, and only the future will tell how far they can ride this. Considering this is merely a mini album, and just a taster of what they have to offer, I’d say they are in it for the long haul, and I can’t wait to catch ‘em live. I suggest you do the same.
‘Long Before I Reach The Phone’ is out now available from Play.com and Amazon.
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