Brighton post-pop-punks Elle Milano return with “Laughing All The Way To The Plank”, the second single released from their recent album Acres Of Dead Space Cadets. It’s an acerbic jab at consumerist culture delivered in a high-octane piano-driven indie rock format that stands head and shoulders above the current crop of Camden hacks.
“Laughing All The Way To The Plank” leaves the sneering coolness of the NME set way behind, sounding like the work of a band who really have something to say. Granted, the anti-consumerist messages are hardly new - drawing as they do on a tradition that goes back to the original New Wave bands when they started articulating ideas beyond “stuff sucks, let’s smash things” - but it’s such a breath of fresh air to hear a group talking about something other than themselves that Elle Milano come out sounding like a sign of change to come.
Musically, I’m reminded of Squeeze; the main piano theme of “Laughing All The Way To The Plank” is cheekily melodic, albeit rushed through headlong as if every second is a precious commodity and they might get no second chance. But that velocity adds weight to Elle Milano’s cynical outlook, giving them a now-or-never flavour that is sorely missing from the insipid eighties retroisms that clog the charts.
Elle Milano keep the pace high and the atmosphere wide-eyed on the two supplementary tracks, as well. “Killin’ Time” starts off with delicate guitar but quickly opens up into an angular pseudo-jazz rattle, with scattershot vocals from frontman Adam Crisp evoking the hedonist nihilism of trying to find a meaning to life in your early twenties. It’s over almost before you’ve had a chance to get a grip on it - and “Chess Tragedy” doesn’t hang around to outstay its welcome either, moving from intro to single verse to single chorus and out of the door in a flurry of Bloc Party-esque jangle and earnest high-register vocals.
“Laughing All The Way To The Plank” is a welcome reminder that indie rock doesn’t have to consist of depthless pub anthems and sub-par poetics, though whether the market will agree is another question entirely. But it’d be a fine thing to hear more bands like Elle Milano bringing some vitality back into a currently moribund scene.
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Posted in Music reviews |
Tags: Elle Milano, indie, Laughing All The Way To The Plank, pop, post-punk
