Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
There is beauty in anarchy, even when the art involved might not seem as though it has a rebellious bone in its body, anarchy doesn’t have to be the great swathe of civil disorder, it must though lead to a renaissance of thought, no punches thrown, no fires started and glass smashed, all that is required in an age of illumination, is to see art explode like a bomb in the mind and the fallout scatter around enough to contaminate with fresh ideas all that come into contact with it.
The head that dips into a questioning angle, that sees the unfolding answer cannot be ignored, neither can the creation of ideas which might seem obscure of first but soon seep into the mind as easily as a trombone into a Jazz night, as easily as a shout from the crown in cacophony of appreciation. It is the sense of burgeoning radical to which Death & The Penguin reveal themselves in on their debut album Anomie, and one that is overt, avant-garde and proud to stand up be counted.
Whilst the idea of anarchy isn’t quite the full story, for in the catchy rhythmic persuasion on offer by Tobias Smith, Andy Acred, Chris Olsen and Phil Gadsden, in the themes of loss, loss, devotion and observation, it is certainly there at the back of the mind, prowling like an incarcerated panther waiting for the cage to be unlocked, waiting to spring on the jailors and use the nature designed, sleek and taut muscles, to rip through the mediocrity that mewed like a kitten that locked the door.
In tracks such as The Calving Shuffle, Space 1998, Colour In Me, Driftwood (God Loves A Bird of Prey), the excellent Abyssinia, the spot on observation of Saatchi and Was It Kindness? the four band members prove themselves as a very fine alternative Rock band to whom this debut is a moment of glory, a tremendous reflection on a state of consciousness embracing the anarchy of change; one that is much needed as we search in the ocean of tame beige.
Death & The Penguin’s Anomie is released on July 27th.
Ian D. Hall