www.jellymaidmusic.com/www.ziprecords.com
This is the new and 2nd album from Autons, a UK trio who have played with Sparks, recorded with Jello Biafra, and in March are set to play the renowned SXSW festival in Texas, USA.
Opener “Politicians” is quite a dark, brooding electro-pop track with politically aware lyrics. After 4 minutes the guitars come in, adding a somewhat punk influence to proceedings.
“Weekend” follows are sees Autons in full electro-dance mode. There is a 70s/80s glam-disco feel and to be honest, it is does nothing for this reviewer whatsoever.
“Amazing” is much better. It is electro-pop-rock, which retains some dance elements. Musically could almost sit on the first Garbage or even The Cooper Temple Clause albums.
“Runaway Train” offers a change of pace, with a strummed guitar melody, which for some reason kept reminding me of the beginning of Stairway To Heaven. Indeed, for the first 3 minutes it was difficult to shake this comparison, then the guitars come in and a repeated riff slowly builds towards a noisy outro.
“KpNcTann” (which I assume is Russian for something) is much more like it. Military marching drums and insistent guitars drive the song along, in a Pitchshifter-lite manner. It would seem Autons are a much better band when they are creating this kind of music.
“Sleepwalker” has a distinctly (but less psychotic) Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster whiff about it. While it retains the electro-pop underpinning, there is a slight Hammer Horror/goth sound.
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“Don’t Break the Spell” is a return to the slower songs, and falls into the category of indie-pop. It develops a dreamy almost psychedelic sound, with subtle hints of Beatles and Pink Floyd. Not bad at all actually, and the best slow track by far.
“Watery Grave” sees Autons in full dance-pop mode – to start with at least. There are guitars in there after a long intro. and it is quite catchy.
“Election Singer” the most overtly punk-influenced track, again with a Pitchshifter and Cooper Temple Clause ambience. A cracking song.
Final track “Ferris Wheel” is a slower, more dream-like track with a repeated electronic phrase the main element. There is again a 60s influence, indeed it goes slightly Pink Floyd, before it all ends with an almost festive “ah-ah-aaahhhh” choral outro.
Essentially this is electro-pop, but laced with touches from other genres and eras. There are hints of many different bands meaning the album is quite eclectic and experimental, which does Autons credit. It does not always work, and some songs stretch an interesting idea too far by about a minute but there is some good stuff here - mainly the faster, more punk-influenced tracks.
Not bad at all, and good in parts.
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