Redjetson - Other Arms
by Sarah Mwangi
published: 10 / 5 / 2009

Label:
Gizeh Records
Format: CD
intro
Somewhat anti-climatic post-rock on posthumous second album from Essex-based band Redjetson, who broke up last year
Redjetson's disbandment last year was mutual and, I believe them. Maybe if they parted ways on more salacious terms and due to irreconcilable differences, ‘Other Arms’ would be guaranteed more of a reaction and attention rather than the see-you-around wave it will simply get. Most of the songs here are led by Clive Kentish’s seemingly broody vocals. He isn’t, however, able to convey dour yet optimistic overtones like the influences he’s trying to imitate, starting up convincingly but failing to keep that that intensity throughout. Which will make you wish that Redjetson were some melancholic indie-outfit and the guy singing first back-up in ‘Questions I Don’t Want To Ask’ was pushed to lead. It’s the first time you will hear the old-before-his-time sorrow and the last time you will believe it. At the first sound of the grimy distortion in ‘Count These Demons’ your excitement, however, will be restored again. In fact this will happen a number of times throughout the album as in ‘Soldiers and Dinosaurs’, where the heavy reverb will make you sit up straight anticipating the follow-through to be urgent, morose and thrashingly loud. There are hints of all three elements but again disappointment rules, as the effect is a sympathetic cry of vocals and guitars, not forgetting the xylophone. It certainly had us fooled. Simply, you wished they would have fiddled around with the equalizer a bit more to beef up their sound. When the wall of sound comes at you, you want it to hit you square in the jaw, leaving you in a daze. Instead it’s a lacklustre fight with tinny crashing cymbals and disorderly guitars. In the end you know who’s won that encounter. In no way is ‘Other Arms’ a throwaway album. Most bands would love to have created a sophomore album of this calibre but as a final swansong it fails to leave an impact. I would like to think that Redjetson made ‘Other Arms’ without knowing that it was to become their last, because if they had had that knowledge, I would like to think that it would have been a punchy post-rock requiem than the anti-climax it ultimately is. The biggest drawback 'Other Arms' will face is that band won’t be able to play inspired versions of these songs live; increasing the chances of it collecting dust as a book-end.
Track Listing:-
1 Soldiers & Dinosaurs2 Beta Blocker
3 For Those Who Died Dancing
4 Questions I Don't Want To Ask
5 Count These Demons
6 Witch At The Controls
7 First Of The 47,000
8 (g)Listen
9 Threnody
10 These Structures
Label Links:-
http://www.gizehrecords.com/https://www.facebook.com/gizehrecords
https://twitter.com/gizehrecords
most viewed articles
current edition
Peter Doherty - Blackheath Halls, Blackheath and Palace Halls, Watford, 18/3/2025 and 21/3/2025Armory Show - Interview with Richard Jobson
Liz Mitchell - Interview
Deb Googe and Cara Tivey - Interview
Lauren Mayberry - Photoscapes
Max Bianco and the BlueHearts - Troubadour, London, 29/3/2025
Maarten Schiethart - Vinyl Stories
Clive Langer - Interview
Sukie Smith - Interview
Garfunkel and Garfunkel Jr. - Interview
most viewed reviews
current edition
Davey Woodward - Mumbo in the JumboNigel Stonier - Wolf Notes
Wings - Venus and Mars
Only Child - Holy Ghosts
Kate Daisy Grant and Nick Pynn - Songs For The Trees
Neil Campbell - The Turnaround
Philip Jeays - Victoria
Darkness - Dreams On Toast
Suzanne Vega - Flying With Angels
Charles Ellsworth - Cosmic Cannon Fodder
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart