Charming is not a word I use in album reviews, it’s best reserved for cotillions and books about castles. But in listening to Long Black Cars, the latest effort from English trio The Wave Pictures, charming kept lunging at me with every hand clap and low-fi guitar solo. Maybe nostalgia is the better word — the album took me back to a day in 1984 when I heard the Violent Femmes for the first time, reading the liner notes while Gordon Gano’s nasal tone shouted “10 10 10 10 for EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING” from my tiny speakers.
For a band that’s been around nearly 15 years, you have to appreciate The Wave Pictures’ ability to stay current while eliciting the American no wave sound of the early ’80s. No doubt Long Black Cars found inspiration from the first Femmes album as well as Jonathan Richman, whose proto-punk DNA is scattered throughout these 12 fine tracks. Like the Femmes (with a nod to their countrymen The Smiths), the band’s lyrics are as intriguing as the music, making Long Black Cars buoyant from start to finish.
Opener “Stay Here & Take Care of The Chickens” takes no time getting the fun started, a jaunty acoustic guitar and happy bass line are quickly joined by up-tempo tambourine taps. Singer/guitarist Dave Tattersall’s voice is bright and clear but contains small cracks like imperfect diamonds, which gives it an added warmth. Tattersall rips into a striking guitar solo midway through which through its precision gives the song an unexpected boost.
These little surprises are abundant throughout. Drummer Jonny Helm takes the lead on “Eskimo Kiss,” serving as a nice counter to Tattersall, who erupts into a churning solo akin to the Femmes “To The Kill”. Bassist Franic Rozycki is the star of “Never Go Home Again,” his ranging finger work keeps the song alluring despite a cheesy, almost tropical guitar arrangement.
“My Head Gets Screwed On Tighter Every Year,” a song about sibling rivalry, is punctuated with Tattersall’s gleaming chords amidst entertaining lyrics. “Rattling away like a hail storm, you work your way under my skin,” he sings of his brother. “My heart bounces around like a basketball in a gym.”
It’s not all innovative — “Spaghetti,” the album’s longest song, comes off too western and feels out of place aside the others, and “Seagulls” is too playful for it’s own good, a song you’d hear in the restaurant lounge of a Holiday Inn.
But the quiet and engaging “Come Home Tessa Buckman” wipes away any doubts, as Tattersall strums a simple acoustic guitar while rap/singing about a lost love. I must have replayed it four or five times.
Long Black Cars is The Wave Pictures fifth album, and it shows a band hitting a sure stride. Confident as it is clever, the record marries old and new in ways I haven’t heard in a while. Charming, indeed.
