There\u2019s a point in every band\u2019s life when it has to decide its true purpose \u2014 is it out to inspire the masses to its message or is it limping out a rock \u2019n\u2019 roll existence because, hey, it\u2019s better than waiting tables. There\u2019s not enough of the former and far too many of the latter, and it\u2019s the responsibility of us as listeners to blow the whistle when we see a band drifting into that sea of mediocrity.<\/p>\n
So Duke Spirit, consider yourself warned: This causal blandness simply will not stand.<\/p>\n
Bruiser, the third album from the London quintet, is crisp, clear and utterly forgettable, a collection of songs that sound just fine but forge no real identity. It\u2019s a head-scratcher for sure \u2013 the band has an enticing lead singer in Leila Moss and a pair of solid albums already on its docket. But Bruiser never feels fresh or daring, doing little to burnish what good will The Duke Spirit has engendered over the years.<\/p>\n
The opening \u201cCherry Tree\u201d is littered with alt-rock cliches, the grinding guitar and the grimy bass line serving as musical interludes set around a typical, pedestrian drum beat. Moss could save it with more inspired vocals, but chooses instead to keep an even keel. The song ends as a flippant aside, drifting into \u201cProcession\u201d without much fanfare or merit. In fact, most every song on Bruiser ends in resignation, moving on to the next tune with passive alacrity. It\u2019s an odd move for producer Andrew Scheps (U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers) to make, and perhaps would work better with more dynamic songs.<\/p>\n
There are moments of power, reminders The Duke Spirit hasn\u2019t scrubbed away its feistiness. \u201cDon\u2019t Wait\u201d and \u201cSurrender\u201d show Moss at her lyrical best, using her voice as a hammer to pound happily along with the accompanying musical frenzy. The final minute of \u201cSurrender\u201d is racy and exciting, a glimpse of how good the band can be.<\/p>\n
But \u201cBodies\u201d follows, lumbering with a bass found in earlier tracks. \u201cDe Lux\u201d works to be dreamy and eclectic with plinking pianos and fuzzy synths, but in trying to hard it becomes labored and trite. \u201cNorthbound\u201d is a dated pseudo-ballad without much edge, and I have the distinct feeling 2003 Leila Moss would kick the ass of 2011 Leila Moss for allowing the lyric \u201cFire of love\/ On and on and on\u201d to exist in the band\u2019s repertoire.<\/p>\n
I become snide when I know a band I admire can do better \u2014 and The Duke Spirit can (and has) done much better than this. The third album is a big test for most bands, and Bruiser is the work of a band that needs to stay back a grade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There\u2019s a point in every band\u2019s life when it has to decide its true purpose \u2014 is it out to inspire the masses to its message or is it limping out a rock \u2019n\u2019 roll existence because, hey, it\u2019s better than waiting tables. There\u2019s not enough of the former and far too many of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1521,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[482,483],"class_list":["post-1520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-bruiser","tag-the-duke-spirit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1520"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1522,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1520\/revisions\/1522"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}