Echelon
Taking their name from a US Nation Security Agency global spy system seems surprisingly fitting for a band hailing from Essex. After all, you almost need a code breaker to understand the concept of the band and even then you may miss a vital clue as to what makes Echelon tick.
Echelon's latest musical offering has the unfortunate ability of leaving you with an immense sense of frustration. This group has the capabilities and potential to create incredible music and at times these qualities emerge on the single. The problem emerges though when they attempt to pull all their individual genius together. Having provided glimpses of how good they can be, it becomes increasingly annoying when they fail to gel as one. 'Windows Shut' begins quietly before hitting you with a thud of a drum beat and a captivating guitar hook. All seems to be progressing well but then in a blink of an eye Echelon appear to loose sight of where the song should be going. The vocals seem to be in a battle against the rest of the band and there is no indication as to who is winning. It's as if they have suddenly got fed up with the song and as such frustration blasts out of the speakers and the initial excitement about the track is cruelly snatched back. 'This Room' does shed some positive light on the band, redeeming them for their prior misdemeanours. Although this is a reasonably up-tempo track, Echelon are able to add their signature quirkiness to it through the use of Paul Usher's vocals. Offering a fairly mournful tone to 'This Room', Echelon create a sombre song using an upbeat, catchy base and in doing so prove that traditional song formulas can be altered and still work well. However, it seems that this is a one off. Final track, 'Harp Song' sadly returns to the same blueprint that was used for 'Windows Shut', acquiring all the same problems and annoyances.
Echelon appear to be trying to stand out from other bands and not conform to a stereotypical musical style with this single in the same way as The White Stripes did a few years ago and Arcade Fire have done most recently. At times it seems that they may actually be able to achieve this, they may be an act to rival bands like Elbow and Radiohead who so obviously have influenced them. In the end though things never seem to come together and although their musical abilities shine there is a certain something lacking which only adds to the frustration they seem skilled at generating.