Rank Deluxe - Tightrope

  by John Clarkson

published: 12 / 2 / 2008

Label: Fat Cat Records
Format: 7"

intro

Crude, boorish post punk from completely derivative South London act, the Rank Deluxe

Franz Ferdinand are responsible for a lot. Their Josef K and Gang of Four obsession has lead to the creation over the last few years of a whole legion of similar imitation post punk bands with jerky guitars and snippy drums. The Rank Deluxe are just the latest in a very long line of these groups.The South London four piece, to be fair, are much better instrumentalists than many of these other acts, snapping at one point their jangly guitars on 'Steal My Soul', the B side of 'Tightrope', into a brief cod reggae rhythm. Yet otherwise 'Tightrope', the first single from their as-yet-untitled debut album, offers little which has not been done before many times before, and, completely derivative, is simply recycling ideas that are already nearly thirty years old. The yobbish, yelping vocals of front man, Richard Buchanan, are also a real problem. He obviously wants to make a social commentary, but lacks the articulation to do so. "We're on the tightrope/We're on the tightrope" he chants, but it is never really clear what that tightrope is. The record's scruffy production is also a hinderance, a spoken word vocal towards the end being drowned out by the fraught guitars. 'Steal My Soul' is if anything lyrically worse. "Drugs and guns and girls/It's fucking crazy/It's fucking crazy" Buchanan bellows. Fat Cat, the Rank Deluxe's label, has been responsible for some of the best releases of recent years. It has almost single-handedly regenerated the career of Vashti Bunyan, introduced post-rock acts such as Sigur Ros and the Twilight Sad into the wider world, and brought out excellent hardcore and garage rock records from bands such as Charlottefield and the Mutts. This crude and boorish latest record is, however, a major disappointment in its otherwise impeccable oeuvre.

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