ALBUM REVIEWS
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ALBUM REVIEWS |
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The Seal Cub Clubbing Club
SUPER SCIENCE FICTION JACK TO PHONO RECORDS 20.4.09 @www.vanguard-online.co.uk Having taken several attempts to get my mouth around the band’s name, my only preconception with The Seal Cub Clubbing Club’s (SCCC to their friends) new album came from the graffiti-style writing on the sleeve. “OK,” I thought, “prepare for some drum n bass guff and let’s see how hardcore they get”. Not very, it turns out, for SCCC are actually a folk band in tracksuits, trying to hide a fairly traditional sound behind the cover of a modern outfit. That’s not to say it’s all battenberg and tea-cosies – album opener “World of Fashion” has dance elements and is jaunty and upbeat – but the band heavily lean towards to balladic, even venturing as far as Royksopp country on more than one occasion (“3ft of Air” being the clearest case in point). Preconceptions out of the way, and “Super Science Fiction” – despite being a bit of a crap name for an album of any genre – is a fairly enjoyable offering. The band’s Scouse origins come through on several tracks (“Dawn Lamb” sounds like a collaboration between Space and The Coral), with Indie sensibilities bubbling beneath the surface all the way through. On their accompanying Press Release, the band say that their album “veers dangerously close to being unlistenable without actually becoming so”. While this may be a little extreme, I can clearly see where they are coming from: the mood of the album doesn’t really suit any situation. There are some tracks that would feel right when driving, but others will get lost behind the road noise. Other, more upbeat, tracks take this out of the running as a chillout album, and it’s just not quite engaging enough to give your full attention. So “Super Science Fiction” is a mixed bag of OK tracks. While I wouldn’t suggest you run out and buy it immediately, I also wouldn’t discount giving it a try. Even if it is the musical equivalent of a shrug. www.myspace.com/thesealcubclubbingclub |