- by Janne Oinonen
- Tuesday, October 11, 2005
- filed in: Indie
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Belgium might be renowned for chocolate rather than music for a reason (although Soulwax might beg to differ), but dEUS did an admirable job in boosting the country's flagging art-rock industry over the course of three albums during the 1990's despite being criminally ignored outside mainland Europe and Scandinavia.
Five years and a few line-up changes later, dEUS are back, and even a cursory listen to Pocket Revolution reveals that the amendments to the Antwerp five-piece's agenda aren't limited to the personnel department. The band's urge for producing an unclassifiable lopsided racket by tossing all possible influences from jazz noodling and nocturnal crooner balladry to Velvet Underground-flavoured drones and beyond, to the pot and then steering that steaming stew in thrillingly unpredictable directions, appears to be a thing of the past. Instead, it's their always prominent pop chops that hog the spotlight, with the inevitable results that Pocket Revolution is filled with disappointingly conventional fare that reins in the band’s more eccentric tendencies. There is nothing here to match the brilliance of violin-powered chant-fest 'Suds & Soda' - even an epic track named after the bizarre, intergalactic cult jazz hero Sun Ra who claimed to be from Saturn remains earthbound despite some spirited stabs at freewheeling space rock.
None is which is to say it's a bad album. A few tracks have the worrying whiff of the generic about them, especially so for one of the very few bands who could be said to have occasionally had an excess of imagination, but the feedback-infested opener 'Bad Timing' is a fantastic slice of infectious dark pop, and the single '7 Days, 7 Weeks' isn't far behind. 'Cold Sun of Circumstance' serves a selection of low-slung riffs with irresistible vibrancy, while 'What We Talk About (When We Talk About Love)' far surpasses expected joyousness ratings for any tune named after Raymond Carver's sombre short stories. It's damn groovy, too, and features singer Tom Barman's best J.J. Cale impression, but the real treats on Pocket Revolution arrive when the tempo drops to a casual stroll and the mood turns to melancholy matters. 'Include Me Out' is the pick of the bunch, a hypnotic breeze of melodic mournfulness, but the gentle sway of 'The Real Sugar' and the wistful, vibraphone-led 'Nothing Really Ends' are also specimens of impressive beauty.
Belgium might be renowned for chocolate rather than music for a reason (although Soulwax might beg to differ), but dEUS did an admirable job in boosting the country's flagging art-rock industry over the course of three albums during the 1990's despite being criminally ignored outside mainland Europe and Scandinavia.Five years and a few line-up changes later, dEUS are back, and even a cursory listen to Pocket Revolution reveals that the amendments to the Antwerp five-piece's agenda aren't limited to the personnel department. The band's urge for producing an unclassifiable lopsided racket by tossing all possible influences from jazz noodling and nocturnal crooner balladry to Velvet Underground-flavoured drones and beyond, to the pot and then steering that steaming stew in thrillingly unpredictable directions, appears to be a thing of the past. Instead, it's their always prominent pop chops that hog the spotlight, with the inevitable results that Pocket Revolution is filled with disappointingly conventional fare that reins in the band’s more eccentric tendencies. There is nothing here to match the brilliance of violin-powered chant-fest 'Suds & Soda' - even an epic track named after the bizarre, intergalactic cult jazz hero Sun Ra who claimed to be from Saturn remains earthbound despite some spirited stabs at freewheeling space rock.
None is which is to say it's a bad album. A few tracks have the worrying whiff of the generic about them, especially so for one of the very few bands who could be said to have occasionally had an excess of imagination, but the feedback-infested opener 'Bad Timing' is a fantastic slice of infectious dark pop, and the single '7 Days, 7 Weeks' isn't far behind. 'Cold Sun of Circumstance' serves a selection of low-slung riffs with irresistible vibrancy, while 'What We Talk About (When We Talk About Love)' far surpasses expected joyousness ratings for any tune named after Raymond Carver's sombre short stories. It's damn groovy, too, and features singer Tom Barman's best J.J. Cale impression, but the real treats on Pocket Revolution arrive when the tempo drops to a casual stroll and the mood turns to melancholy matters. 'Include Me Out' is the pick of the bunch, a hypnotic breeze of melodic mournfulness, but the gentle sway of 'The Real Sugar' and the wistful, vibraphone-led 'Nothing Really Ends' are also specimens of impressive beauty.
Not a full-blown return to gonzoid glories of yore, then, but well worth your while.
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