This deliciously carefree collection from raggle-taggle Rhyl rockers GINTIS follows their Slacyr-released EP in detailing life's emptiness in an FX heavy and acoustic-led journey through the world as seen from the seaside.
The ten tracks on offer here are a dead giveaway when it comes to self-blame and loathing, but their shambolic style is an endearing lesson in seriousness, or lack of it, when it comes down to all things happy, drunken & accidental. The moral of the story is unclear, but seems to point ominously towards an assessment of the pros and cons of stashing any leftover fireworks in anticipation of an empty celebration.
The warm brass effect of 'Tamaulipas' is a definite highlight, the final shake-up of this rattling crossroads encounter. For 'San Jose' read 'Llandudno Junction', or maybe 'Towyn' – either way be prepared for the screaming cowboy rollercoaster mayhem, before the sense of Saddleworth calm descends to win the band contest hands-down!
The weighty guitar acoustics predefine accepted and universal truths, before the lyrics twist them all into something that sits on the cusp of our perception. This kind of peripheral wisdom is delivered on a chorus of giggling euphoria, and the effect is crazed, wise and utterly true to itself.
'Don't Get All Weird On Me' hovers with a handclap around the auspicious guitar rhythm, as if the crockery is going to start exploding around its head off the wall behind it any second – democratic in-jokes about spastic caucasians fire off the central refrain as the group giggle with slight hysteria underneath the mix. The follow-up, the indie-gorgeous 'Chatney's Loss' is a place where barking backing vocals and a sweet guitar refrain hold the insanity together before the whole thing gathers itself in readiness for the 'Take-it-to-the-bridge' rallying call.
The downbeat mayhem continues with the one about the overdraft: 'Anna Don't Know' is a veiled threat in polysyllabic clumsiness featuring a pipe-organ refrain in the key of brass, name-checking erroneous anomalies in the most matter-of-fact way possible along the way. With indecision at a premium, and despite any prevailing lack of comprehension, there seems nowhere to go but 'up'!
“Nothin' ever happens around here” is the line that precedes the self questioning shift in tempo, before matters of the heart are left to disintegrate. Boredom, the enemy of the mind, or what!!!?
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Consider the steel pulse of 'Chatney's Games', a whistling organ drive of expletive delight, that begins (I kid you not!) with bongos, and the line “I wrote this so Fuck Off...LalaLaLalaaa”!
'Summer's A-Callin' rattles along like the Dylan parody that it is - ukelele driven, tambourine shaking, with a harmonica riff underlining the superb harmony of the lyrical attack. The vocals harmonise again superbly during the finale 'People Defiant' (outrageously rhymed with “Fictitious Science” and “Religious Alliance”), as this three part epic is finally substantiated with a thudding bass and chiming melody.
At their fine and shambolic best live, this outfit may even customise a copy of this album to your specifications - I was listening to the 'Gary Speed, y brenin o'ein byd (Gary Speed, King Of Our World) version, in celebration of the Welsh wonder's career-spanning landmark 500th Premiership appearance, the first footballer to clock up that total in English football's still-new top drawer.
'Happy Drunken Accidents' is one of those records that incite initial disbelief and feelings of disturbed discomfort – before the whole thing settles down for you to consider the quality within.
Contacting the band for a copy may well prove to be a life changing decision (but failing that, most certainly life-affirming). If you like your indie tunes to be a delightful shambles consisting of imperceptible truths, then you are on to a winner with this little lot. Their stage show is an idiosyncratic in-joking phenomenon that exudes warmth with every chord strummed – and this self release may well require you to undergo the epiphany of a full hour's worth. No hardship intended :0)
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