Thursday, October 30, 2008

Malory - Not Here, Not Now (Reissue) (V)

Not Here, Not Now is pretty much a German echo of Souvlaki-era Slowdive, with a slightly greater emphasis on the softer tones and electronics and a song about the Lord of the Rings. It's an untitled bonus track, but . . . There is, sadly, nothing really original here, despite the review on their website that reads "they definitely do not fall into the trap of countless other "ripoff" bands." It's actually nigh-uncanny the degree to which they've emulated Slowdive's sounds. Identical vocal reverb, identical tones, voices emulating the same timbre with just a hint of accent.

Malory is good enough in their emulation that I'd see them if they came around, but their songs don't touch me the same way Slowdive has managed on repeated occasions. Of course, to be fair, the same is true of more than one "classic" shoegaze band, but unless you're curious to hear some Tolkein poetry as a Slowdive song, I'd recommend passing this release up in favor of the people who not only created this sound, but could write entrancing songs within the idiom.

1 comment:

freewave said...

Y'know at some point you get bored with the classics. While it's absolutely important to be familiar with Slowdive's catalogue it's important to know that every Shoegaze band after 1992 is repeating what's already been done. Once you realize that it's much easier to tolerate the copy-cat nature of the next wave of artists; as Shoegaze is either a fossil that no one dares to replicate or a thriving new scene that celebrates the past AND the present resurrection.