On receipt of this, the following unfortunate happening occurred – the box jumped out of my hand, landed on its corner on my stone-tiled kitchen floor, smashing the jewel case into smithereens. Which IS unfortunate as it’s an exquisitely packaged little object and a fine addition to my collection. Ah well, I’ll just have to swap over the case from my copy of Lionel Ritchie’s ‘Can’t Slow Down’ I suppose.
This incident also begged the query, 'Jesus - if that’s what this jumpy mother does in my hands what the hell will happen when I put it in my machine…?'.
Thankfully nothing damaging to my ears anyway, as this is a fine debut offering from Kerry trio Ten Past Seven. Now, perhaps the most pressing question regarding this lot is whether they have got the goods to justify their existence in the Irish Post-Rock scene. After all, we’ve have already seen the likes of The Redneck Manifesto, Connect Four Orchestra, Rest amongst others in recent years and some may ask the question ‘do we really need yet another instrumental band who take their inspiration from the likes of Steve Albini in his many incarnations and Fugazi?’. Well, the answer here is a yes, albeit a slightly reserved yes.
Having seen and immensely enjoyed this outfit in the flesh recently, I already knew that they can sho' kick behind on stage – however, I must confess to being slightly dubious about whether they could transfer the energy that they generate live on to disc. The good news is by and large they can. The album opens with a blast of Metalica-esque riffage before twisting in convoluted fashion into an angular stop/start affair entitled, ‘The Purple Dot’.
This works well and in its four or so minutes gives a pretty neat summation about what this band is all about – rapid unexpected shifts from hot to cold, fast to slow and back again with as many time-changes packed in as is humanly possible. The songs found on the first half of the record all carry a considerable punch, full of hyperkinetic inventiveness and non-corny slow bits they engage the listener appealingly and provide plenty of musical high points such as the twisty harmonics towards the end of ‘No Bother’ just before the band hits into maximum overdrive, and the climax that isn’t on ‘The Purple Dot’ that confounds listener expectations with an agreeable jolt.
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Now, as that previous paragraph probably shows, I know diddly-squat about the technical aspects of music in general. For instance if a diminished seventh and a triad got together I have absolutely no idea what it would sound like – nor do I want to. But I do have quite an appreciation of instrumental music in the shape of (shock!) jazz in all its guises, including free-jazz. And for me somewhere around the half-way point here, I begin to wish that there was a little more free flowingness, humour and dare I say it, ragged improvisation in the band’s approach. Ok boys – you’ve showed me you can play but technical proficiency is no substitute for raw emotional contact. It’s a bit like what separates great jazz from mere musical jerk-off material (or post-rock from post-wank for that matter).
And although they may scoff, this band could do with getting a little Mingus in their souls. Many who don’t know any better write off jazz as wank-music par excellence (which it can be) but in my opinion there’s more Rock n’ Roll spirit in the opening minute of ‘The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady’ than there is in almost anything you’d like to mention. And it’s only this little devil-may-care, stuff it up your crack playful intensity that is missing from making Ten Past Seven’s debut offering only very good rather than great.
On the other hand, that’s me perhaps being bit of a pretentious old fool too – overall this is a powerful debut packed with oomph and youthful vigour. The playing is exemplary throughout and betrays none of the bland over-worthiness of many other post-rock acts and Ten Past Seven more than amply show us that they have plenty to offer in the future. Definitely a welcome addition to the Irish, nay world, music scene and worthy of inspection for anyone who likes their music all edge and spark. And in 17/16 time.
(www.tenpastseven.net)
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