A less dramatic sounding band name than that of this five piece from Leeds is hard to imagine. I suspect this is all part of their game plan since they are certainly aiming to set themselves apart from other Indie groups. Unfortunately, it doesn’t exactly give them much of an intellectual edge or do justice to their sound which has close similarities with the brooding post-rock of Mogwai or Explosions In The Sky.
On top of the slow burning tension of the instrumental passages, iLIKETRAiNS’ secret weapon is the morose, detached voice of Guy Bannister. His half sung / half spoken words add an edge of darkness and menace to these precisely constructed songs.
For their debut single (Before The Curtains Close) the narrative centred on a brutal killing by a stalker. The two long tracks on ‘Spencer Perceval’ (9 & 6 minutes respectively) also have a murderous theme but also allows them to work in the band’s strong interest in history as they take on the decidedly un-rock’n’roll topic of the assassination of a British Prime Minister.
Perceval was shot through the heart in 1812 by an aggrieved debt-ridden merchant. The assassin, John Bellington, was hanged for this crime one week later.
The title track relates events from the point of view of Bellington who tells Perceval that he “could have saved himself” but that his actions have made his death and subsequently Bellington’s own inevitable. The song’s best lines draw together the fates of these two men: “You were the finger on my trigger and the rope around my neck”. For the companion track , ‘I Am Murdered’ (the final words of Perceval), the perspective is that of the PM himself who not unreasonably asks “What did you expect me to do?”.
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One weakness is that there is no discernable shift of tone or delivery between these songs to bring out the very different social backgrounds of the two protagonists. Perceval’s language is marginally more formal - e.g.“If truth be told I’ve had other things to contend with…” – and I think this could have been developed further especially given that Bannister is at his best when the lyrics are more prose-like.
It’s a minor quibble however because this is a fine and original release.
What iLIKETRAiNS have accomplished here raises high expectations for their forthcoming debut album
Links :
Official web site - http://www.iliketrains.co.uk/
Fansite : http://www.thisgreenandpleasantland.com/
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