The Love Band – We Are The Love Band

The Love Band We Are

Rather surprisingly the first track on this LP from London based The Love Band sounds a lot like The Music and other similar baggy, loose-limbed dance-rock acts, yet it despite catching me off guard it lacks a certain energy that those acts often managed to capture. More successful is There Is A God with its vocals wrapped up in muffled Iggy Pop barks on the verses, though its choruses are a little flimsier.

The third track We Are The Love Band archly repeats its title over and over, a tongue-in-cheek theme song, and it seems apt here to establish that The Love Band are guitarist and vocalist Kristian Mortimer and drummer James Lewin, who also produces the tracks they record themselves.

Squeaky falsetto accompanies the playful guitar of The Children of the Sun, there’s a raised eyebrow that suggests a lot of their simple pop-rock songs aren’t devoid of self-deprecating humour, but the chorus bellyflops into a hollered cry of ‘The world is mine!’ that feels strangely constrained as opposed to swaggering or euphoric. The Sea Of Souls finds Kristian’s vocal raw and scratchy, which works well, he spits out the lyrics ‘All the lies are in your head’ with a Mick Jagger-like sneer, but whilst his passion is evident in his vocals the rest of the track feels a little too polished by contrast, and whilst it is a generally chirpy pop number the mix is a little off.

Jumpy tropical guitar hops around on Party Time!, a laidback but somewhat uninspired tune that coasts along nicely attempting a sudden shift into a frazzled rock reinvention, but unfortunately doesn’t quite nail the dive and falls flat. The Kasabian-like Game Over fares better, it’s macho grunts punctuating the guitar riff are enjoyably daffy, whilst the song plays out like a warped version of a The Kinks song covered by the aforementioned Leicestershire lads.

Meanwhile Northern Star seems like a nod to The Charlatans but sung, at first, in a falsetto that doesn’t quite work, Kristian’s drawl better suited to the shuffling military beat and slowly plucked guitar, though it all falls apart rather when the track steps up a gear into sub-anthemic rock territory. The mellow The Real Thing works better, James drums slow and desolate, whilst Kristian’s guitar ambles around, his vocal echoing and haunted, the track has a certain semi-improvisational quality that gives his murmurings a lonely weight.

The record closes with Original Sin which fades up into a dance-rock riff in full swing and James’ drums clattering out a feet shuffling rhythm, as if we’re walking in on them mid-jam. It feels like a stylistic choice taken partially because of how easy it comes to the duo, but also because it’s simple to use the traits of artists they perhaps admire than really branching out and defining a distinctive enough style of their own. They can put together a derivative tune with a degree of skill, but it’s definitely not enough when a lot of the songs feel half-baked and tied up in straight jackets. The Love Band are a passable listen, but this LP doesn’t do much to set our their own personality.

[Rating:2]

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