Rocking up with an arsenal of hip references which include The Fall, Can and My Bloody Valentine, The Bent Moustache may sound like a Surrealist art-based musical project, but in actual fact, their second album – the follow-up to 2007’s ‘Forst’ – is remarkably sane and cogent, and makes no attempt to unravel the listener’s subconscious or explore the constituent members’ Oedipus complexes or childhood traumas.
That isn’t to say it’s not wildly inventive, diverse or warped: TBM combine experimentalism with a keen pop sensibility and a post-punk sound and attitude, throwing myriad stylistic elements into the mixer and coming out with a sonic soup that’s pure gold.
‘Hey Mate (I’ve Got Plenty to Spare)’ is so Fall-Like I had to double-check it was still the same disc: the clunking bass and clanking guitars are only half the story, as the studied inflections and snarling deadpan delivery of the vocals is pure MES – to the extent that I was compelled to check the credits to confirm it wasn’t a guest appearance-uh. Of course, Smith’s oft claimed that virtually every band on the planet is ripping off The Fall, but none succeed. Well, I guess this is the exception hat proves the rule, especially as they repeat the trick on the stomper ‘Seine Meine Geneime Code’ which tosses together elements of ‘LA’ and ‘Wings’ and somehow not only gets way with it, but emerges as nothing short of stellar.
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‘Loose Thinking Now’ is a frenetic post-pun jam that melds guitars that are simultaneously choppy and jangly to some punchy brass that’s pure ska – and perversely, it bloody works! It stands in stark contrast with the off-kilter atmospherics of ‘Azad Hind’ and the swampy murk of ‘The Sound of Sirens’.
It’s not all clever-clever or artsy, though: ‘All In Our Hands’ is shoegaze pop a performed by Dinosaur Jr. in a rehearsal studio and recorded onto four-track, the wistful female vocals half drowned in a barrage of big guitars cranked up really high. The effect is equally moving and exhilarating.
Being quirky, clever sods, they close the album with the appropriately-titled ‘Outro’, a mellow and completely incongruous jazz sax solo – and it still bloody works. Brilliant!
The Bent Moustache Online
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