ALBUM: Virgin Kids 'Greasewheel'

Rating:

On the face of it the much vaunted Virgin Kids debut is a straight forward garage rock album. An introductory long(ish) player that sells itself on the promise of lose yourself live shows and bright futures, that these curious finds of 2016 may become festival winners in 2017. But scratch a little deeper and the 8 track album leaves you a little indifferent.

The album crashes straight into one of the album highlights, ‘Bruised Knees’, which delivers a punkish energy and spitting vocal to prick the senses and even ends with an actual “whoop”. This leads into ‘Change In A Colour’ that starts to introduce a more psychedelic and shoegazey sound, and this is when the band are at their best.

The problem is that the album gets a bit formulaic and repetitive and lacks too many memorable hooks to go with their undoubted technical ability. ‘Shrink’ and ‘Crook’ are tracks that pass without too much emotion peaked and this is the albums challenge. A challenge particularly relevent when you only have eight songs to play with.

Admittedly this inconsistancy may be eliminated with time and experience, and the B52’s tinged ‘My Alone’ is the stand out track on the album and the path that best suits the London-based threesome. As if to prove the point, ‘Never Nude’ is a bit post punk by numbers and largely unmoving.

The album finishes on the well constructed and jangly ‘Be Your Friend’, which only serves to illustrate that this is a band that should be watched with interest. The confusion and ultimate frustration lies in the fact that just when it gets edgy and interesting it reverts to a rather bland, off the shelf garage rock record.

Which way the band go is unknown and it may be that one needs to see a live version to fully understand the interest but this remains a record of interest and inconsistencies.

Greasewheel is out now via Fluffer Music Promotions Ltd.