With a dazzling 5 bar rock guitar intro followed by swelling feedback and
drums, the Ray-Guns have me at ‘hello.’ It doesn’t hurt that “Melrose”--a
song about waiting by the phone for someone you practically hate to make
you feel loved--is pretty damn funny, and real. That playful way of
dealing with pain may be the legacy of Brit-ska groups like Madness, and
much of this album stays in that sort of territory. But this is an
unusually plainspoken band, and my favorite moments aim for something more
subtle, more like the great pop records that came out of Jamaica in the
60s. “Atwood” carefully details a homebound party, while “Biscuit” is a
love song remarkably casual and moving at the same time. What is most
refreshing about the best things here is the level of honesty-- “Slow” even
wrestles with whether this band thing is worth the effort. The surprises
this eight-piece band keeps sparkling out of the relentless ska beat make
it all more than worthwhile, while “Varicosa” ups the ante by leaning so
hard toward the rock side of the band that the ska becomes a subtext,
creating a vibrant, fresh form of metal.
Contributed Reviews
With a dazzling 5 bar rock guitar intro followed by swelling feedback and
drums, the Ray-Guns have me at ‘hello.’ It doesn’t hurt that “Melrose”--a
song about waiting by the phone for someone you practically hate to make
you feel loved--is pretty damn funny, and real. That playful way of
dealing with pain may be the legacy of Brit-ska groups like Madness, and
much of this album stays in that sort of territory. But this is an
unusually plainspoken band, and my favorite moments aim for something more
subtle, more like the great pop records that came out of Jamaica in the
60s. “Atwood” carefully details a homebound party, while “Biscuit” is a
love song remarkably casual and moving at the same time. What is most
refreshing about the best things here is the level of honesty-- “Slow” even
wrestles with whether this band thing is worth the effort. The surprises
this eight-piece band keeps sparkling out of the relentless ska beat make
it all more than worthwhile, while “Varicosa” ups the ante by leaning so
hard toward the rock side of the band that the ska becomes a subtext,
creating a vibrant, fresh form of metal.