Reviews:: Falklands Bastille Day

A few months ago I made a casual mention of how my list of records to discuss on herohill was interrupted by a little known outfit from Edmonton by the name of Falklands. The young band had sent over a copy of their 7" and the A side - Stephanie - was an inspired, energetic Chisel-era Ted Leo-ish jam. The back side - Jeez Louise - was a catchy slice of Hi-Fives surf pop-punk that never took itself seriously and made you nod along happily. Basically, in 7-minutes, the band made you take notice and get excited.

Flash forward to this week and once again a quick email from guitar man Mark Budd basically triggered the same chain of events. Record from Dave Myles, Plants & Animals, Caribou and Mark Sultan all got pushed back into the pile and their new EP - Bastille Day - has occupied much of my daily listening.

I suppose it shouldn't be a huge surprise for a young band to change their sound as they start to grow as a band, but the peppy mod and pop punk ditties are nowhere to be found on Bastille Day. Instead, the band offers up some rough, guitar heavy bar rock more inspired from UK acts that dominated the 70's rock scene. Heal My Hand booms out of the blocks and right away you sense a bit of a swagger coming from the speakers. Obviously playing shows and writing songs has given the Edmontonians the confidence to crank it up and start finding their own sound, but even more important is the new collection of influences that they sample from.

Dancing in the Moonlight is an aggressive tip of the cap to Van Morrison that the band handles surprisingly well by adding drum fills and heavier guitar solos to balance the melody and softer vocals and they even close the EP with a rough and ready cover of Tom Petty's Refugee that feels like it was recorded after a sweat filled session and a case of beers. But the thing is, the energy and fun they deliver on all five songs show that Falklands are more than happy playing some straight up punk tinged rock n' roll. In an age where the recipe of guitars, drums, and bass is often dismissed as juvenile or simplistic, I'm on board with any band that has the balls and riffs to make you dance and drink without any gimmicks, studio magic or trying to tap into the buzziest of sounds.

MP3:: Falklands - Heal My Hand

MP3:: Falklands - Refugee (Tom Petty cover)
MYSPACE:: http://www.myspace.com/thefalklands
BUY:: http://falklands.ca/

Labels: Canada, Edmonton, EP, Falklands, Music, Reviews