Around the time W&H initially got off the blocks, there was a lot of noise being made about the Leeds ‘scene’ and – if the Liverpool that spawned The Coral, The Zutons didn’t get there first – it seemed the West Yorkshire hinterland was about to explode.
Fast forward ten years and countless scenes have come and gone with more regularity than Pete Doherty’s court appearances, yet hotly-tipped still bands keep seeping out of Leeds and the majority of them continue to proudly fly the flag for independence.
If you’ve got this far, then you’ll probably realise that THE WIND-UP BIRDS are yet another DIY-minded band with an upward trajectory with a postcode marked LS. They come with suitably breathless press notices, are currently being produced by ex-Forward Russia/ Dance to the Radio Records supremo Whiskas and have recently had Steve Lamacq in raptures.
All well and good, but after the critical drubbing we meted out to their previous EP, ‘Courage, For Tomorrow Will Be Worse’, The Wind-Up Birds have some ground to make up chez W&H and they don’t entirely make up the yardage with this new double A-side outing.
‘Meet Me at The Depot’ is the weaker of the two contenders here. Their PR blurb suggests it’s “a soaring, almost anthemic song”, but to these ears, it seems like bog standard indie guitar fare, ranging from colourless to grey at best. Frontman Peter Ackroyd can’t sing for toffee either, but that never stopped me loving David Gedge and the vintage early Wedding Present stuff and in the plus column, Ackroyd’s lyrical skill pegs back some marks and his finely-wrought description of two hopeless romantics on the run (“we’ll leave notes on the conveyors for the gaffer and the packers/Tell them not to miss us”) is the kind of thing that can’t fail to warm the coldest of hearts.
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Nominal ‘flip’ side ‘Popman’ again features a suitably offbeat take on life with elements of Morrissey, Billy Bragg and the late Chris Sievey springing to mind when we consider the idea of a ‘Popman’ leaving wholesome sonic goodness on the doorstep of all needy Indie kids on a daily basis. Crucially, though, the quirky lyrical content (“I’m not talking about the eggman, no way/ that was The Beatles being surreal about delivery people”) is allied to a punky, effervescent rush of a tune that over-rides the shortcomings in Ackroyd’s vocal and leaves you feeling that they’re getting there at last.
With the MySpace generation introducing more potential runners and riders to the Indie Guitar stakes than ever before, bands need something special to last the course. Received wisdom suggests The Wind-Up Birds are already moving out in front, but these two inconclusive tracks demonstrate that they’re some way from clearing Beecher’s Brook as yet.
Sturdy Records online
The Wind-Up Birds online
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