James Arden checks out the garage rockers latest album.
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The Loose Salute’s debut album, Tuned to Love, released on June 2nd, bills itself as “packed full of songs, songs, songs.” And that it is.
One might say that telling us an album is packed full of songs is like telling someone that an art gallery is packed full of pictures or that Ziggy’s on a Wednesday night is packed full of drunk students; however the album doesn‘t rouse any particularly strong feelings of love nor aversion- it is distinctly benign. Apart from the songs led by the female vocalist that is.
Ian McCutcheon and Laura Bilson form the vocal talent on Tuned to Love, and they alternate their vocals throughout. It is starkly obvious that the strongest songs on the album are those in which Ian McCutcheon takes the lead as on the first track, Death Club. This is undoubtedly the album’s highlight, with a style and tempo reminiscent of the Beach Boys but with fewer harmonies. However, I tread carefully with the Beach Boys comparison and would like to note that it is more Surfin USA than Don’t Worry Baby.
Despite the implied criticism of Death Club by my only allowing the Beach Boys comparison go as far as their weakest song, it is an enjoyable listen and the vibraphones and banjo are an excellent accompaniment to summer. The ethereal instrumental at the end of the song is very atmospheric, combining voices and saxophone before tailing off expertly into a very slow, brief piano solo.
The Mutineer see’s McCutcheon use Elliott Smith style vocal layering and Meatloaf style song writing, yet this is still one of the better tracks on the album. Ballad of a Dumb Angel, is a very effective acoustic track with a melody which vaguely recalls the track Just Travelling Through on the The Thrills album So Much For The City.
I cannot help noticing the likeness between Bilson’s vocal style and Charlotte Hatherley from Ash’s solo album, Grey Will Fade. Except that her album is good. Bilson’s tracks are very country-pop, particularly Turn The Radio Up, which quite straightforwardly is based around her desire to raise the volume on her car radio whilst she is travelling with someone she affectionately refers to as ‘my love’.
Her lyrics do not improve much and in the Meatloaf style ballad 'Why’d We Fight' she observes that ‘There’s a minefield between me and you’ in which the only relief lies in the fact that the fighting metaphor appears to have no political connotations. Generally, her lyrics resemble the melodramatic, self-piteous attempts at poetry that your standard C Grade A level girlfriend read out to you whilst you sat cringing on the bed next to her.
One of the album’s more positive attributes is that it showcases a wide range of instrumental talent, namely lap steel guitars, banjo, vibraphones, keys and saxophone.
It seems quite clear to me, after acknowledging how many comparisons can be made between Tuned to Love and other musicians, why the album fails to excite me. There are one too many terrible female tracks and the good tracks blend very easily into the backdrop of the current whimsical ‘music you can fly your kite to’ indie scene.
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