The Sheffield Scenester

For a relatively unknown band to release a ‘best of’ album may at first seem rather ballsy, others may call it arrogant, but when you consider that the band in question is Repomen, then you’ll know straight away that orthodox goes straight out the window! We first came across these guys when they played a sold out O2 on LMT’s farewell gig, and even back then we were impressed with their abstract humour and slightly surreal take on life! Of course since then we’ve seen them live on several occasions including an amazing set on the Tramlines Busker Bus, reviewed the extremely fascinating ‘Headlines’ EP as well as co-hosted lead singer Denzil’s radio show ‘The Indie Hour’!

Now due to the fact that they’ve been together for over ten years and complacency is definitely off the menu, this collection is presented chronologically which gives the listener quite an insight into how they’ve progressed over time. Opening with the almost simplistic ‘She’s In Love’, a bouncing jaunt of a tune which for reasons that will become apparent later on reminds of The Beatles ‘Love Me Do’, the tune is catchy, the lyrics are pretty minimalistic to say the least. But having said all that….it manages to end on a slightly dark note of “I love her; she’s in love……with you!” A taste of what was to become a trademark of their career, that nothing is what it appears!

This is closely followed by the melodramatic aspirations of ‘Lauren Bacall’ evoking memories of days gone by when stars were stars and they actually meant something. A time before the modern paparazzi all but destroyed the illusion of mystery surrounding the idols of the day; it’s this style of songwriting that begins to shape the rest of the album as the subject matter becomes more serious. This doesn’t necessarily detract from the fun they can still bring to the recording studio as in the song ‘Out Of Here’, a story of drug induced paranoia with quite a happy little pot-boiler of a riff in the background.

Throughout the near desperation in this song you can hear a happy clap along chorus and a keyboard bubbling away, which having heard it live….I know for a fact that it really works well as a dance number!

The shortest song on the disc, ‘Love Me’ owes a huge debt to the 70’s punk movement….primarily The Damned, as it comes in at just over a minute.

Fast drums, fast bass and fast guitar pretty much sum this track up, but amidst all the raging chaos there are little moments of invention that raise it above the average screaming wannabe, if anything it’s not too dissimilar to The Damned’s ‘New Rose’, one of the great songs that helped shape a generation.

Directly following this is for my money the best track on the whole album, ‘Dietrich’, it has everything, horns, a thumping bass to pulse it along and a hell of a story to tell that grabs you from the opening line of “The door was open, I just walked in, she left the television on, the sleeping pills in a plastic bottle on the kitchen table, with a note for someone else to read!” With images of a classic film noir running through my mind….this tale brilliantly crosses intrigue and deception with modern indie dance, trench coats on the dance floor, it’s a strange concept, but with this song it really works and ties in nicely with ‘Lauren Bacall’ earlier on.

In direct contrast ‘A Different Situation’ follows this, whilst it’s not exactly a hippy ballad it does float through your mind with pastel ease. Very laid back and very calming to the senses, with numerous references to comets, shooting stars as well as a clapped out Vauxhall Astra thrown in for good measure, the rhythm gently massages your grey matter, leaving you with nothing but a smile to your name!

‘Next Best Thing’, a very choppy indie affair which pretty much does what it says in the title, in other words it takes a sarcastic swipe at the world of wannabes! This is all delivered over the stuttering chords of an indie pop song, which in itself is no doubt another stab at the machine behind the modern charts. At the other end of the spectrum are the haunting keyboards that drive the song ‘Violet’, a song of such unrelenting loneliness and loss that it’s hard to believe it comes from the same group. The ending of this song is more poignant as it fades out with the sound of a child’s musical box echoing into the distance, kudos must also go out to Denzil on his subtle and restrained vocals during this song, while he’ll be the first to admit he’s no Russell Watson, he voice is definitely up to the task on this song!

Of course this disc wouldn’t be complete without ‘Parallel Schizophrenic’, the song that we remember more than any other from the first time we saw them play, full of fun, full of bounce, full of humour and in all honesty whether it addresses mental issues or not has never bothered me….since I’ll always think of it as a damn good tune! Finishing with three tracks off their EP ‘Headlines’, this takes us into the more conscientious and politically aware side of their songwriting. ‘Flicker’ is about Mexican peasants risking all to cross the border into USA, ‘What We Do’ takes the viewpoint of a South Asian military regime and how it justifies its methods while ‘Headlines’ is based on the true story of Neda Agha Soltani, a woman who came to represent an unwilling figurehead of Iran’s 2009 revolutions while she lay dyeing in the street! All serious subjects….but it doesn’t mean there’s no room for a good tune in there and with the exception of ‘Headlines’ that is what we are given!

So before you is a cross section of work that spans a decade and rather like The Beatles ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ compilations the progression from the pop infested opening track to the deep and respectful homage of the closing track, we can see the path they took to get there. At times funny, at times somber…but always with a purpose in mind, each song marks a time of their life when it meant something to them. It’s safe to say they didn’t start with a ‘four chord pop song’ and keep that formula hoping for the best, they’ve definitely moved on and no doubt will continue to do so. So with such a diverse collection of styles spread over the twenty tracks here, there may be a few duds for some people, but the hits will easily outweigh them!