Sekiden - Junior Fiction

  by Andrew Carver

published: 13 / 5 / 2004

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Review

Although album artwork is usually irrelevant to my enjoyment of an album, I have to say that the cover of Sekiden's 'Junior Fiction' is charmingly appropriate: A simple line drawing of a cuddly green monster standing behind an x-ray machine that reveals his heart has been torn neatly asunder. "This must be some extra-fuzzy new wave power pop, with boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl (and vice versa) type songs" said I — and so it proved to be. Australian trio Sekiden's influences start with groups like the Vapours and Buzzcocks, then heads up the family tree to newer outfits like Supergrass and Weezer (No doubt their homeland's proud history of powerpop — e.g., The Eastern Dark and various Don Mariani groups — plays its part as well). This isn't to say Sekiden are aping those groups — for one thing, the trio's instrumental lineup focuses on guitar, drums and synthesizer, leading to a sound which is much more early-80's than the usual run of powerpop groups who worship at the altar of the Beatles, Beach Boys and Big Star (not that there's anything wrong with that ...). Nonetheless, when 'Pinball Summer' rolls around, you'll find yourself thinking of 'The Sweater Song'. When the group harmonizes 'Oh yeah' on '1+1 = Heartache' you'll swear you're listening to Teenage Fanclub. Those harmonies are quite nice, since the group has two good vocalists in guitarist — sorry, "fuzz and falsetto" — Simon and synthesizer player Seja (the former takes the lead most of the time, with Seja taking over on the far mor synth-poppy 'Answering Machine' and 'Jigsaw'). It's a strong album from start to finish — well, barring the 40-minutes plus of electronic bleeping noises tagged on the end — and mighty cute as well.

Track Listing:-

1 All Ordinaries
2 1 + 1 = Heartache
3 S-T-A-Y
4 Autumn Glass
5 Girl League
6 BNE
7 Pinball Summer
8 Answering Machine
9 Seldon
10 Jigsaw
11 Pulsewidth