A grizzly but fun couple of songs
The pulverising riffs of ‘The Dance Floor is a Scary Place’ takes the song to a totally unexpected level and the song, and single, throws a lot of different elements together. Not all of them work and although it will mess with your head a bit, it just about works. The vocals are buried in the mix and have that twang that at times suggests 60s psych rock and at others, sneering London indie rock, creating a good blend of no nonsense xxx. Truth be told, the vocals are probably the least likable thing of the lead track which has many different elements to pull together. As mentioned the riffs stand out and some of the underlying keyboard stabs are well worth digging out but the rock god guitar solo near the end of the song isn’t required. A bit of paring back and Chop Chop Bear Touch? Could have had a bona fide indie dancefloor classic on their hands but with so many different styles fighting for attention, it will definitely pass over the head of a number of people, which is a shame because when the elements work, they work well.
This un-nerving mish-mash of styles and genres continues throughout and after a few listens, it starts to make more sense and you can see the songs coming together with ‘Dying To Know Nothing’ becoming more impressive with every listen. The pressure implied by the driving guitar works well with some of the electronic elements and ensures that there is freshness to some of the tracks. The squelching bass of the remix of ‘The Dance Floor is a Scary Place’ really brings the menace to the dance floor but that’s no reason to give the track a miss. Chop Chop Bear Touch have something of the night about them but that’s the best time of day.