Kim Novak are a four piece French band who despite having formed only two years ago in 2005 make a confident noise on this, their debut album.
Fortunately there is no connection with the German screamo band ‘Kill Kim Novak’.
Ignoring the linguistic dictates from their native lords and masters their songs are all sung in English - accent free renditions that you would mistake for Anglo-American if you didn't know their true origins.
The choice of band name and cover image also belies their cultural preferences. They claim to have selected Kim Novak because they liked the sound of the name rather than through any close affinity with the actress best known for her roles in Hitchcock movies like Marnie or Vertigo.
The album's cover image is a further indication of a kinship with Americana, evoking the urban realism of Edward Hopper's paintings.
The album is co-produced by François Chevallier and Markus Dravs; the latter has recently worked with Arcade Fire, a band whose studied theatrical qualities ‘Kim Novak’ share, although this album is no ‘Neon Bible’.
Kim Novak's sound is assured but overly derivative. It's certainly not a bad record but there's no one great song to set it apart from countless other Indie bands ploughing the same furrow. The strident rockier numbers closely resemble to the insistent rhythms of Interpol and there’s more than a hint of Bowie throughout.
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Most of the 11 tracks are up tempo numbers of which the lively power pop of Swallow is the most striking. These are interspersed with a couple of brooding ballads where the slow monotone vocals have the melancholy mood of Tindersticks particularly on the track 'In The Mirror' ("I'll be your mirror - you'll be my terror").
Lyrically the album is fairly anonymous and this adds to the impression of a band which are technically accomplished but lacking in a strong individual identity.
In 'Crash' they sing: "Like in a movie I hated when I guessed the end" and a common factor of both cinema and music is that the audience is looking for that elusive spark of originality and integrity that distinguishes the special from the same old same old. This album doesn't have it.
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