Phonic Rapture - The Arrow

  by Paul Raven

published: 8 / 7 / 2007

Label: Chapter 14
Format: CDS

intro

Slightly limp-sounding old-school road-house rock and roll from just disbanded group Phonic Rapture who simply seem to be going through the motions

The title track opens up with filtered wah-wah bass, then crunches into blues-soaked rock at a stomp-along pace. Phonic Rapture play a very old-school road-house rock and roll for guys and girls in spray-on stone-washed denim; there's nothing new here, but they are bringing a level of competence that doesn't get applied to this sort of material often enough. Most blues-rock retro these days replaces musicianship with pent-up energy, and there's nothing wrong with that. But Phonic Rapture are coming from the other direction – the playing and singing is tight and flawless, but a bit limp and uninspired. It just doesn't burst with the breakneck frantic pace that it seems to deserve, and has the flavour of a band who know the moves, but who are just going through the motions. Of course, that could just be the perspective of someone who discovered this sort of material through the modern iterations and then worked backwards; to long standing fans of blues-rock, it's authenticity will probably work wonders.

Track Listing:-