This Modern Empire - First Time

Hear The Track Here

I have reviewed This Modern Empire three times, thus far and been quite taken by this Australian trio although not even to be shouting from the rooftops but hey it's early days yet innit? I think the truth is that - so far - it's either been something with the sound or the song being alright but nothing remarkable. In my last review, Love Is The New Black (May 2010) I wrote 'Going to be interesting to see where the band go from here because, to me, they certainly have much potential' and now we have 'where they went from here'. To be brutally honest, I didn't think this one promised much initially until I started to notice how much like early Talking Heads it sounded.

From that moment, I was a goner guv...

Actually it isn't that the band sounds like Talking Heads so much as the vocalist sounding very like David Byrne, as I discovered as I got to know the song better. It's a kinda sorta punky rock thing anyway a la the kind of stuff coming out of NYC in the punk era, and if I were judging it in that context this would be scoring very high indeed. It's actually quite hard to make a decent rock song poppy (ask anyone who has tried), but This Modern Empire - in terms of the song and it's structure - have pulled it off very well indeed so on that score, top marks at least.

Unfortunately, and probably because the vocal is so understated, it lacks the essential drive needed and that - to me anyway - is where the track dragged. If it sounds like I'm dishing the dirt here, you'd be wrong. I really do like this track but somehow soundwise, it fails to convince. Of course only niggardly old bastards like me would be so crotchety, the rest of you would be too busy dancing your butts off to this track. And, to be fair to the band, they have managed to knock up some Highly Recommendeds from me and the past and this one slots right on in there - at least in terms of the overall deal.

Highly Recommended nod to the past.