Repomen - Lights Out / She's In Love

  by John Clarkson

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

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Review

The Repomen have been playing together for over a decade now. The group, which features in its current line-up Denzil Watson on vocals ; Ric Bower on guitar and occasional keyboards ; Simon Tiller on bass and James “Yozza” Hughes on drums, first formed in Sheffield in 1990, then split up at the end of 1992, before reforming again four years later in the latter part of 1996. The Repomen have played prestigious support slots with The Cranberries, Strange Sky Exit and The Solarflares, and also have a strong home town following, but, since they recorded two three track cassettes ‘Burst’ and ‘Omen’ in the early nineties, have never until now had the opportunity to record anything else. ‘Lights Out/She’s in Love’, which the group has self-produced , is both their debut CD EP release, and also their first recording in eight years. The EP, which the band describes as “double A-sided”, and which also features two live, acoustic numbers ‘TakeAway’ and ‘It’s So Easy’, starts convincingly with ‘Lights Out’. It is a well-crafted and reflective piece of early eighties influenced new wave nostalgia that meshes together an Orange Juice style jangling guitar line against a clipped, echoing bass riff. The EP’s second track ‘She’s in Love’ is, however, more abrasive in tone and is splendidly reminiscent of The Buzzcocks with its tantruming guitars and jagged melody. Telling of unrequited love, Watson’s sneered vocals carry a bittersweet sense of irony and their last line has an unexpected twist in its tale. The Repomen have, however, saved their best trick until last, and ‘TakeAway’ and ‘It’s So Easy’ finds the band not only changing direction, but also instruments. Watson remains on vocals, but Tiller has now swopped to double bass and Hughes and Bower have switched to acoustic guitar duties. ‘Takeaway’, a rustic and bluesy-sounding ballad, upon which the versatile Bower also appears playing the harmonica and the tin whistle, is a paean to a lost love, and shows the band at their most bruised and vulnerable. ‘It’s So Easy’ meanwhile is a tense, angst-ridden ode to uncertainty that has a world-weary vocal from Watson and which brings the EP to a melancholic, but powerful close. These are strong songs, written by a band not frightened to experiment and to be different. With songs as tightly written and as well composed as these four, let’s hope that it is only a matter of time, and not another eight years, before The Repomen get back into the studio. More information about The Repomen can be found at their website www.geocities.com/repomenuk

Track Listing:-

1 Lights Out
2 She's In Love
3 TakeAway
4 Its So Easy

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/RepoMenband
https://repomen.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5z7b