We Were Promised Jetpacks

These Four Walls

Written by: TL on 21/06/2009 14:02:34

"Right foot, followed by your left foot, will guide you home before your curfew, and into your bed" With those words you the listener, is guided into the debut album of Scottish newcomers We Were Promised Jetpacks. A band that many have probably only discovered and listened to because of the awesomeness(sillyness?) of their name, however this first album of theirs, "These Four Walls" is a rare reward for curiosity then, because this ladies and gentlemen, this might just be one of the very best records to come out of British rock in recent times.

"Just a comeback.. Another comeback.. far too orchestrated.. far too calculated.."

At first glance, the music is traditional, simplistic indie rock. Picture the tempo and groove of The Strokes and marry it to the progressive emotional explosiveness of The Frames and you're close. Add vocals with a Scottish accent as thick as the one you also hear in Glasvegas and you've got an overview of what's in this package. You're still not close to grasping the whole picture though, because in listening to this album you will continually get the feeling that there's more to it. You see, when these upbeat songs take flight and start to get louder, as they more or less all do, they also gradually reveal a larger and larger wealth of texture. However, this happens without ever compromising the raw sound. It's feels like you're listening to some freak child of polished brit rock and DIY American post-hardcore, and it's actually pretty damn awesome.

"Something's happened, in the attic.. there's no way I am going up there.."

The simple truth about this album however, is that the reason it's so damn good is that it has a lot of good, simple, memorable songs. I've already quoted lines from "It's Thunder And It's Lightning", "Conductor" and "This Is My House, This Is My Home", and apart from those, lead single "Quiet Little Voices" is also trippin' to throw itself at you and put catchphrases in your mind. And those are just some select examples from a record that is littered with catchy lyrical bits and captivating buildups. Okay so in all fairness, you could accuse WWPJ for having written the same song 11 times in a row, but given how efficiently they woo us with the "starts quiet, then gets louder and louder and louder till it explodes" structure, I'm willing to allow them to recycle it at least for the duration of this album.

Of course, this could leave you questioning what they can do to expand their success on a second album, but personally, I'm having too much fun listening to this to worry about that for the time being. It's a great record from an unexpected little corner of the scene and if you give it the chance, then it's going to have you singing and dancing in no time. Great stuff!

8

Download: Quiet Little Voices, Conductor, It's Thunder And It's Lightning
For The Fans Of: Franz Ferdinand, Snow Patrol, The Strokes, The Frames
Listen: myspace.com/wewerepromisedjetpacks

Release Date 15.06.2009
Scattered Records

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