I once asked the owner of my local corner shop how much the penny chews cost. I was about 10 and I thought I was hilarious. The shopkeeper no doubt thought I was a complete clown. Depressingly, I still find the story funny, primarily on account of the absurdity and audacity of my question, and equally depressingly, you can’t buy penny chews any more. I’m not sure if JC and his mates are old enough to remember penny chews, but I have a hunch they might appreciate the tale of my childood smart-arsed wind-up.
After a brace of bracing double A-side single releases, the musical confectionary fans unveil their tongue-twisting debut album. They’re a bit postmodern, you know? Straddling the line between seriousness and absurdity, smartness and stupidity, their songs are packed with references, pilfered slogans and flickers of knowing intellect (it’s not every day you’ll find an indie band passing a nod to Situationist International founder Guy Debord on their album).
‘Exceedingly Good I’ kicks things off, a choppy guitar line and buoyant bass reminiscent of Gang of Four providing the backdrop to sampley snippets and sung vocals. ‘El Dorado’ is a disco / Britpop collision that’s park Stereolab, part James. It’s all there, even the kitchen sink. The smart-arsed aspects of their work thankfully doesn’t impinge on some savvy and varied songwriting, from the surging rush of ‘Snowballs’ via the quirky single ‘It Takes All Sorts’ with its refrain of ‘reptiles! Reptiles!’, to the ponderous ‘11 Hope’ which has a hint of The Verve to it, the highs are euphoric and the lows are expressed so eloquently as to be enjoyable in their own right. Kream Puff’ is worthy of special mention for being a surly, swirly riffy beast with a cracking hook ‘ With 11 tracks in 37 minutes, ‘ The High & Lows’ is a succinct and canny lesson in snappy indie pop. Tasty.
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Jacques Caramac & the Sweet Generation Online
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