The Sheffield Scenester

When an EP begins with the line ‘In 1979 a child was born with three eyes’ you know that this is going to be something special. This is preceded by a loud resonating bass, and then just as this whole flashback commentary is wrapping up we suddenly descend into a bouncing funk beat as the rest of the song continues unabated. With continual references to the Hollywood machine, namely sequels, special effects and even zombies, it really is hard to quite get a handle on what is going on here, but it doesn’t really matter as the rhythm and obscure lyrics are so infectiously mind blowing that you just sit back and enjoy the ride. And that is the beauty of ‘Who’s The Badchild’; for the record I Googled the three eyed baby and whilst there are records of such events I couldn’t find one from 1979!

‘Harlequin’ is the second track which has a much bassier and edgier sound to it, reminding me of some of the early Stranglers repertoire...‘Peaches’ in particular. The bass seems to be the prominent force in this track as we are told, in a near sarcastic tone, the nature of these harlequins....who seem to be a group of social elitists who basically aspire to be the ‘it’...living in a privileged world where they have to be told what to like, what to wear, what to listen to and so the list goes on! All this encapsulated over a grinding, bumping riff, it just doesn’t get better than this!

The third track ‘Talking Shadows’ is for me the odd one out on this EP as it has an uncharacteristically 50’s/60’s feel to it, the sort of song you’d expect to hear from The Crookes. Melodic and poetic, mind you they do slip a thumping bass in towards the end, but it still doesn’t detract from the fact that is a beauty of a tune. Almost light and frothy, it simmers away at a steady and jaunty pace, conjuring images of an American high school beach party set piece, the sort of thing The Monkees might have turned out...surprisingly though these guys do it with a slight modern twist making it so much better!

The fourth track is unbelievably called ‘Monkey.Gossip.Cross.Tessaract’ which takes us back to a more choppy sound, reminiscent of Alvarez Kings without the skuzz. Every note seems to cut into a deeper almost paranoid psychotic state as the song charges along with a near demented energy. What it’s all about and where it’s going is completely beyond me, but the urgency and desperation in the vocals, coupled with a racing tempo give it that edge which raises this above standard indie fare. Tesseract, well that is a reference to either a four dimensional cube or a revolutionary four wheeled bike from Yamaha, amongst other obscure things, Google really can be more of a hinderance than anything else at times!

‘I Think I know Stuff Reading The News’, yet again is another musical direction The Volcanoes, in a way it re-visits the territory covered in the song ‘Harlequin’, namely being spoon fed information on a need to know basis only. The track itself bristles along with an almost retro 80’s synth pop sound like quality to it, very Talking Heads at times. While it doesn’t carry the menace that was evident in ‘Harlequin’ it does mock the people who will take anything at face value without stopping to think about it!

A very interesting and exciting EP, loaded with a refreshingly obscure perspective on the daily grind. As with their previous EP, The Volcanoes have come up trumps with a collection of songs that show both diversity and individuality. With styles dragged from all manner of influences, ranging from extreme paranoia to the bouncy bubbly pop of care free 60’s, it really is hard to hit the stop button, you’re better off just setting it to repeat!