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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Gomez: The New British Invasion?
Wednesday 25 September @ 10:31:15 |
 by Rob van Alstyne
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that, in American popular music, critical praise and commercial viability rarely coincide (Wilco and a few other notable exceptions not withstanding). Things aren’t quite so dire overseas, however, as attested by the sheer volume of quality pop music criticism England manages to support. Gomez, longtime critical favorites and surprisingly successful album sellers since their 1998 debut Bring it On won the coveted Mercury Prize for England’s best album, provide the perfect example of the Brits willingness to forego convention in their record-buying tastes. Led by three talented singer/guitarists (Ben Ottewell, Tom Gray and Ian Ball) with widely varying styles, the band’s sound is an amalgam of psychedelia, white boy blues and dubbed out beats that sounds like virtually no other group.
All the clamor in Europe has yet to translate, unfortunately, into substantial sales stateside. Here the band is still probably best known for singer Ben Ottewell’s gravelly take on the Beatles classic “Getting Better,” which aired as the soundtrack to a Phillips TV ad. But their latest genre-bending excursion and third proper full-length, In Our Gun, should be the record that finally breaks Gomez out of the American college rock ghetto.
The raucous opener “Shot Shot,” with its driving computer generated rhythms and funky baritone sax fills, provides the first of many moments when the already irrepressibly inventive combo seems intent on blowing its sound wide open. The new layered sound is initially shocking (particularly the ludicrously over-the-top video game sound effect outro on “In Our Gun”), and listeners enamored of the bluesy shuffle of Gomez’ raw first album will scratch their heads at In Our Gun’s lavish style. Despite the occasional step into stoned excess, Gomez remains one of the few British rock groups to actually put some teeth in their music. The rockier moments of the album (the aptly titled “Ruff Stuff” being a prime example) provide a kick that would knock those nice boys from Coldplay flat on their asses.
Ottewell’s grand voice is still Gomez’ secret weapon. Sounding like a haunted blues man with fire in his belly, Ottewell has the kind of pipes that would command your attention even if he were singing the yellow pages. The group lets him take the lead on the mic for the majority of In Our Gun, and some truly epic numbers (“Sound of Sounds,” the weepy “1000 Miles”) come out of the bargain.
Recorded and produced entirely by the band, without outside assistance, In Our Gun is the kind of sprawling and majestic (albeit occasionally frustrating) record artists are capable of making only when they aim to please themselves rather than any specific market demographic.
Gomez plays Wed., Oct. 2, at the Fine Line Music Cafe. 8 p.m. doors. $17.50-$32.50. 21+. 318 First Avenue North, Mpls. 612-338-8100.
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