Welsh lads They Walk Among Us (and you have to love that band name don’t you? Creepy and cool…) bring us their new album Monkey In A Chicken Pen – nicely packaged in a shiny vinyl bag with ominous red lettering. The presentation is slick, but you can’t always judge a book by it’s cover, and having not come across these boys before I’ve no previous experience to go on. What do they sound like? Well…
This band put me a bit in mind of the Zutons, had they been listening to metal. They have that sparky, slightly whirly psychedelic feel but with more brittle edges. Like someone slapping the Holloways in a leather jacket and marching them into a heavy rock gig. TWAU have managed to combine genuine understanding of pop sensibilities with a dark and brooding feel that works to great effect.
Opening track I Push You Pull has fairground organ combined with joyous harmonies and just the tiniest touch of anger in the vocals – a little piece of sixties pop with a healthy dose of today’s reality. A cracker. Track two, Full Stop, goes for an edgier rock sound and manages to pull it off: the fact that it’s tempered with really well hit three part harmonies only improves matters. Track three is Hate Mail, a personal favourite: perfect to sing along to, big guitars, cracking vocals and all delivered with great enthusiam. Top stuff. Menace just boils off My Name Is God, with it’s gritted teeth delivery and big swathes of guitar lashing the track to within an inch of it’s life. dark and cool. Track seven, Hey Julie, calls to mind that cheeky sense of humour The Zutons do so well, with it’s exasperated plea for Julie to “please stop stalking me…” and the general confusion regarding her obsession. It’s funny without being novelty, it’s perky and nicely done. Final two, Pendulum and Stones round the album off with a touch of swagger, and a real sense of a job well done – which, trust me, it is.
This album’s not without it’s flaws: My Ex-Wife might be the weakest song, with Sinner claiming second weakest. they both suffer lyrical clangers – for example “My ex-wife killed my dog”, which gets repeated three times and the slightly cringe-inducing
” Sinner…why are you running? Are you late for your dinner?”. Not the best, and it does tarnish this otherwise treat of an album. That being said, although My Ex-Wife is definitely the lowest point, Sinner, despite the use of the rhyming dictionary, still manages to be a decent rock song.
So, after all this I can honestly say that I’m very glad this one fell into my lap, and pretty disappointed that TWAU aren’t playing round my way any time soon. When they do I’m definitely going to check them out. If you like a bit of malice with your indie, if you like your pop a bit more raw than polished, check out They Walk Among Us.
check out more at www.myspace.com/theywalkamongus