| · Proof that you don’t have to be original to be good.
Despite the fact that these two bands are only marginally similar in sound, they have a lot in common, from their obliquely blurry crimson album art, to their uncanny knack for repackaging thick swooning guitars. Reading, England’s The Cooper Temple Clause are considerably more adept at updating the Brit-pop swirl of seminal shoegazers like Ride and Swervedriver, but less effective at crafting a successful album. Kick Up The Fire and Let the Flames Break Loose is a definitively aggressive endeavour that punches up their dreamy sounds with oppressive guitars to balance Ben Gautrey’s Oasis-inspired moans. Loaded with studio tricks, the album proves to be fairly mediocre until the bass-heavy assault of "A.I.M." which sounds like the Gallagher brothers teaming up with Primal Scream.
With their U.K. it-band status, The Cooper Temple Clause may sport their influences for all to see, but they’ve got nothing on Skywave. Synthstatic is quite simply the sound of The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Jim Reid fronting My Bloody Valentine – a love letter of epic proportions. Having toiled in relative obscurity over the course of four full-length albums, they have mastered mid-frequency analogue hum, ear-bleeding guitar squelch and rapid-fire percussion. Despite sounding like it was recorded over a decade ago, Synthstatic doesn’t suffer for its nostalgia.
THE COOPER TEMPLE CLAUSE 3/5
SKYWAVE 4/5
JASON LEWIS
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