Odean Beatclub - I Need More Time

by Benjamin Howarth

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

Label: Play
Format: CDS

Odeon Beat Club’s second single will appeal to fans of melancholic art rock, especially bands like Idlewild but also Pavement and it is even reminiscent of the quieter moments of Mogwai. The guitars

Review

Odeon Beat Club’s second single will appeal to fans of melancholic art rock, especially bands like Idlewild but also Pavement and it is even reminiscent of the quieter moments of Mogwai. The guitars are the best thing about this single. They are actually similar to the sort of thing a post-hardcore band does. They are quiet and melodic, deceptively simple. But they aren’t catchy in an indiepop band way, only memorable. I can never explain what I like about this sort of guitar playing properly but I’ll try. Its pretty but it isn’t sickly, and it sounds tuneful but you can never quite find a tune in it! It only works if backed with the right kind of bass and drums. Johnny Marr used this style of guitar playing on some of the early Smiths singles. As I’ve said, some post-hardcore bands play in this manner as well but Odeon Beat Club aren’t a post hardcore band, although they should appeal to appear to fans of that genre. I like both of these two songs a lot. The singer is similar in style to Roddy from Idlewild (one of my favourite bands ever!). He almost mumbles, but his voice is strong. He just realises that the indie rock audience isn’t looking for a classically trained vocalist. The songs are half tunes, not classics, but that is true of a lot of great bands from early REM to Low. The feeling of unity between all the instruments and the voice, and the lovely guitar sound, is what makes this great. 'Nicked', the second track, is my favourite of the two songs. It briefly uses female vocals, which are actually quite weedy sounding, but work well as a contrast. Odeon Beat Club sound like the sort of group that have a really good album in them, although that isn’t necerssarily always true even of bands that have recorded great singles. For the time being though, I really enjoyed this. I’ll definitely be looking out for them in the future. The more I play this the more I like it. I’m sure that, just like Idlewild, Odeon Beat Clunb will become really good songwriters and then we’ll be looking at a really great band.