Chicago lads give us a mess
I really can't decide whether I hate this EP or just dislike it. Part of me wants to use the CD as a Frisbee with some of the attempts at music, but some bits of the record aren't too bad. I think Dunes Phase want to be reggae, and they kind of achieve it. I also think they want to be the Coral, which they don't achieve. What they end up is a mish-mash of funk-ska-experimental-new wave tracks that seem to be jammed together with an industrial crusher. The effect is that they can't seem to make their minds up as to what they want.
Take first track, 'To the Rooftops'. Before the vocals kick in, it's not that bad - listenable but unmemorable. But when the singer starts up I'm compelled to turn the CD off. It seems that he's trying to be self-consciously kooky, and just ends up sounding like a rip off version of Adam Ant. And it doesn't end there. On 'The Sway', what would otherwise be a pretty good track is marred by those same attempts at kookiness. The press release mentions eighties pioneers Can and XTC, and those influences show through very clearly but as a pale imitation. The tune is quite decent as a funky, dancey number that could be something if only it wasn't smothered so much. It gets better though.
It's on 'Mono Mano' and 'Mono Dub' that the reggae tendencies show up and actually, for once, the vocals almost work. They're dub enough (as long as you ignore the Michael Jackson 'Billie Jean' moments) to work, which makes the whole thing listenable. It would help if they didn't sound almost exactly the same, with perhaps a few changes. The two are laid back and not to mention the shortest. The most listenable moments on this EP are the brooding, dark ones where the vocals never go high, such as on 'Badge Say Go'.
But those are the only two decent ones, sadly enough. But it's not so much the music - which has so many influences in it, it's a bit of a mess - it's the Adam Ant/Michael Jackson vocals which sound so forced at times, it puts me right off. No doubt fans of bands like the Fiery Furnaces and Chicks on Speed will love it but, for most people, it's one to avoid like the plague.