EP review: Modern Clichés - Falseness & Fairytales

There are a number of ways to throw yourself into the firing line of music criticism, and one of those would be giving your band a name like Modern Clichés. While it’s far from being a total washout, the Falseness & Fairytales EP supplies plenty of evidence that the name may be a little too apposite for comfort.

First of all: Modern. The influence of Paul Weller and his contemporaries on Modern Clichés is inescapable, though thankfully not filtered through the laddish reinterpretations of Britpop. The clean sound of the band - bright melodies and wide-open spaces, slightly dubby basslines and brief spurts of polished punk rock clatter – are easy on the ear but a trifle too understated to really hit home.

Second: Clichés. This one is hard for anyone to escape – there’s nothing new under the sun, after all – but the Modern Clichés retread the urban everyman tales of the Mods without adding the sense of frustrated aspirations that made them a musical force in their time. Lead track “You Don’t Know What You Want To Be” takes a deserved pot-shot at rock-star pretentiousness, but the public-school pronunciation robs it of the fervour it needs to sound like a genuine raised middle finger.

That’s the overall problem; the songs are far more coherent and thought out than a lot of indie bands seem to manage, but Modern Clichés can’t seem to summon the oomph they need to make them fly. The EP’s title track “Falseness & Fairytales” features the line “it’s just plastic smiles / that’s what it is”, but it’s sung so gently, so forgivingly, that you feel those plastic smiles have never really hurt anyone. Even the pseudo-terrace chant at the bridge sounds too studied and restrained, leading as it does into an energetic eight bars of rhythm and blues before returning to the sunny sedateness of the verse.

And again, closing tune “Exactly The Same As Always” goes for dreamy clean guitars and lyrics about dreaming your way out of a humdrum life, but it’s all so carefree and whimsical in style that it almost sounds like a parody. Modern Clichés have stuff to say, and it’s the sort of subject matter that remains fairly timeless … but come on, guys, put some feeling into it!

The Falseness & Fairytales EP just doesn’t convince like it clearly wants to. Credit where it’s due, there’s some strong songwriting and competent musicianship on display, but it doesn’t match up to the strong reputation as a live act that Modern Clichés have accrued. It’s not something I find myself saying very often, but this is one independent release where I’d have been happy to trade the unusually polished production values for a bit of live-show fire.

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