A lively and impressive debut by Tokyo Police Club (TPC) which makes it clear that Canadian indie is not to be defined by The Arcade Fire alone.
There's a breathless energy about this mini album with its 8 tracks spanning just 18 minutes; none even reaching the 3 minute mark. It was recorded in three days flat as if they were afraid the vitality would be lost if laboured on for too long.
Perhaps inevitably, it's pretty rough and ready and not without its flaws but taken as a whole the number of the hits far outweigh the misses .
TPC’s sound will appeal to fans of Interpol & The Strokes but sounds less dark and angst-ridden than these bands.
Standouts include the catchy metronomic beats of ‘If It Works’ and the Granddaddy style tale of spaceships and robots in ‘Citizens Of Tomorrow’ .
A weakness is that at times the band seem undecided as to whether they should plump for straightforward power pop or settle for an artier flavour . The Stereolab-like ‘Nature Of The Experiment’ (also their first single) suggests the latter would play better to their strengths. This includes snappy lyrics like “It’s an ancient Russian proverb – I doubt it’s one you’ve heard” and is far more convincing than the rockier opening track 'Cheer It On' which contains the fairly naff lines from which the band derive their name: “Tokyo Police Club - Lost in the Pacific– I’m arresting you for being in love”. Ouch!
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Still, if they can fine tune the bullshit detector across a full length album TPC should add to the not inconsiderable momentum gained here.
Who knows, they could be patrolling our airwaves for some time to come.
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