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Artists: Luxury Stranger
Title: Face EP
Genre: Post Punk
Release Date: 7th June 2013
Label: afmusic


Album Review

I remember I´ve said it once before; it´s always a tender subject if you have to evaluate a musical output from a band, that lists as their sources and influences names like DAVID BOWIE, IGGY POP, JOY DIVISION, THE CURE and THE CHAMELEONS, all of them personal heroes and companions of the own musical socialisation. Mostly you feel certain what way your thumb will take, even before the first song is over. Not that the songs have to bad necessarily, no, but there´s this little devilkin in your head, singing: “my mama said to get things done, you better not mess with…” and so on.

But what when the list doesn´t stop here, but goes on naming genres like Cold Wave, American Punk, Glam and Grunge? And what when you visit their website, realizing that the quoted influences go far beyond the “usual subjects”, including THE DOORS, THE BEATLES, GENESIS (I hope the pre-P.C.-era!), REM and PEARL JAM and further still Orwell, Poe, Lynch and Lissitzky? Then you are suddenly a bit confused and surprised and the scepticism turns into a slight kind of curiosity. And this is what happened with LUXURY STRANGER, the three-headed, UK based formation, founded in 2008, whose current output ‘Face EP’ saw the light of the world these days, designated for bridging the gap halfway to their upcoming 3rd album (as the rumours goes!).

Okay, to be honest I´m not an admirer of that EP politics, ´cause in the most cases the 4 or 5 songs fails to span the stylistic width of a band, fails to spread out the effect within the limited running time (not to mention the almost always redundant remixes, which mostly feel like space fillers!). But that´s just dull theory and maybe idle talk, so it´s time to have a focus on the chief object… Okay, one last side step: the artwork is strongly reminiscent of a commercial for a well-known social network, irritates ungainly and lays a false trail (as we will see later). Art? Provocation? Zeitgeist? I have to say I really don´t get it (apart from the ‘Face’) and I feel a bit ashamed now for being so slow off the mark! So let´s come quickly to something completely different: Music.

‘Face’, the opening and obviously eponymy track welcomes you with an enjoyable JOY DIVISION-esque straightness (sorry for drawing comparisons that early, but the striking influences list suggests that this shouldn´t be a problem!) evoked by dotted drums, a hunting bass line and frayed, rusty guitars. It has this kind of unpolished surface, what explicitly states that it´s not about decor or embellishment, it´s about emotive immediacy, twice-underlined by the vocals, which apparently come not from a teaching book but straight from the bones. As the song goes along it more and more feels like a mantra-like undertow that grips and shakes you, slapping your face with things well-known but peculiarly estranged. It´s like reading a book you already know without remembering the final chapter (and you know you need to know it!).

It is the melodic sadness of ‘Feelings’ that captures you from the very first note. Acoustic guitar chords are planted in contrasting offensive rhythms by bass and drum, coated with the dimly shine of the vocal´s patina, convincingly filled with memory and nostalgia, with tears and laughter. That track serves as a brilliant example of how to create an emotional density by the use of simplest means if it comes directly from the heart (or the relevant neurologic area). ‘She takes my soul and wipes it clean’ caught me in a situation, what´s almost the hell for someone, who throws with words at music, rendering verdicts, made of vowels and consonants, believing to be an impervious judge and executioner – it touched me. It´s simple structure and it´s beauty plainness (owing deliberately or inadvertently a lot from the canon of the above mentioned band from Manchester) give it the feeling of being reduced to an emotional core and for that so vulnerable and bloody fragile that it´s just great. No, more than that… stirring.

‘Grounded’ jolts you out of your bittersweet daydreams again and kicks you back on that dusty and rough trail the way started with. This remake of its 2008 twin (to find on the ‘Desolation’ album) is a rebirth dressed in a full band arrangement, what re-coins the track with bracing energy and a restless drive, reminding a bit on the ‘The Back Room’-eraEDITORS and closes the circle of songs in a great and satisfying way. …if there wouldn´t be that aforementioned mandatory remix at the end. The self-titled “club style Remix” of their 2012 charts-entering single ‘Nothing Holy’ unfortunately lacks of those exciting irregularities you can find on the surface of the other tracks. I miss the stains on the canvas, the crannies on the skin! Electronic abrasives and danceable marching machines made it become too polished, too compliant for keeping pace with the music in front. Pity!

So here we are and at this juncture I only can repeat myself. I don´t like EPs (Maybe I´m clung to that old-fashioned single-album-habit!) and in that particular case it´s really a shame that it´s over after just 4 songs! (I let the remix slide unperceivably). It´s really an enjoyable and impressive bundle of songs, which mixes roughness with melodic, emotion with coolness and illumination with obscuration. And suddenly I start to realize a possible ulterior motive for releasing an ‘Extended Player’; it leaves an unsatisfied hunger for more!


Tracklist

01. Face
02. Feelings
03. She Takes My Soul And Wipes It Clean
04. Grounded
05. Nothing Holy (TB Remix)


Line-up

Simon York – Vocals, Guitars, keyboards
Tim Bond – Bass, backing Vocals
Tim Smith – Drums, Percussions


Website

http://www.luxurystranger.net


Cover Picture

luxurystranger face


Rating

Music: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 8 / 10





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