Emma, Verity, Rachel and Mia are Electrelane, an experimental
psycho post rock outfit formed in Brighton in 1998.
On Rock It To The Moon, their first album,
the band dispense their ice-cold incandescent instrumentals
over eleven tracks and seventy minutes. Conscious of
remaining master of their own destiny, the band set
up their own record label, Let’s Rock Records, very
early on. The girls recently pointed, in an interview
with music magazine The Wire, that, although the label
is backed by a major (Sony/3MV), they are in a position
to take their own decisions.
Occasionally close to the fuzzy atmospheres of Spiritualized,
the foursome often put their tracks through intense,
aggressive, accelerations, sending their guitar-based
compositions into wild overdrive. The two opening tracks
are pretty much representative of the general sound
of the album. The Invisible Dog kicks off in
a rather quiet manner, before the drums and guitars
take control, elegantly supporting a furious outburst
of farfisa. Long Dark plays equally on mixed
emotions, the same farfisa taking a back seat role for
a while, before breaking into George Moroder’s The Chase
for an instant. Other highlights include the band’s
first single, Film Music, as well as the Stranglers-meet-Broadcast
Blue Straggler and the beautifully crafted
Many Peaks. Electrelane linger in the periphery
of rock without giving up their ambition for wider spaces.
Rock It To The Moon is an ambitious first album,
charged in emotion and arrogance, by a band in full
control of their art. Electrelane’s display of attitude
transpires solely through their rather mature compositions,
none of which are devoid of juvenile mischief.
4/5 |
