The Singletons- Live 3 Track EP
When I learned that this offering from the Singletons was a live recording I didn’t expect much. My list of humorous derogatory comments was poised and I was ready to be hated by yet another up and coming band. Nothing to do with the band themselves, but more to do with the fact that even professional groups struggle to produce decent live recordings. The format just doesn’t lend itself to recording.
But wait a darned cotton-picking second, something just ain’t right about this. I can hear the vocals, the bass, the guitar, the drums; geez Louise it’s all here! Some genius of a soundman has managed to capture The Singletons in all their live and dangerous glory (albeit with no crowd noise before or after songs, for reasons unknown).
They’re tight like a tiger and their tunes are much more than the ‘un-pretentious sing-a-longs’ that they describe. Their sound is actually quite akin to the Coral, not in musicality but in terms of atmosphere. It’s creepy in places, with vocals such as ‘love everyone, now kiss my face’ erring on the mental side of sanity, thus making for quite an uneasy feeling, capped off by the ‘Mary had a little lamb’ ending to ‘Going La La’.
The mis-hit guitar notes on ‘Burn All Your Money’ are as important as the powerful chord-sequences, giving a sense of passion in the performance. Whether this is intentional I’m not sure, nor do I care. They should leave it in even if they didn’t mean it. The male-female vocal combo is a fun, off-the-hook affair also reminiscent of The Pixies’ demented wailings. There you go guys and girls, you sound like the Pixies, thus you’re clearly much cooler than you think you are (in reference to denial of cool-ness in the press release).
The Singletons are a refreshing listen in a world of self-hyped average punky rock bands (see my recent review on In Darklight) and so are deserving of your attention. Unless of course you like your music to be nice and predictable, in which case look elsewhere.
Guest article from Matt S.
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