Je Ne Sais Quoi - Secret Language

by Emma Haigh

published: 16 / 10 / 2004

Label: Coalition
Format: CD

Intelligent and ferecious punk rock from new Swedish punk band, Je Ne Sais Quoi, whose seeming apathy, is combined with "a parodoxical avalanche of sound and fury"

Review

The opening onslaught of Spanish guitar, shouty sneering vocals, slight distortion on the drums and a lot of brush-stroked high hats combined with thrashy snare chorus lines in 'Death of Them' interlaces disorienting power and a delicate whiff of punky intelligentsia. Shifting effortlessly from this Je Ne Sais Quoi emerge into a parodoxical avalanche of sound and fury in ‘Minstral Show’ that thunders Dionysian through ‘Secret Language’ and ‘The Crowd’ to come to its final seething halt in an (as I can tell) unnamed bonus fifth track. The immediate taste reminisces early Le Tigre, but without the femme. 'Secret Language' derides apathy as much with its lyrics ("Escapism narcissism/ Constantly fending off/that feeling of utter panic/We will agree on our excuses" in ‘Secret Language’; "Hey you all, it’s just an illusion/If you gave it a thought/You’d draw the same conclusion" in ‘The Crowd’) as with it’s pelting clamour. You can’t not hear, you can’t not question. 'Secret Language' comprises that peculiar Phil Spectre aura the Swedish do so well with that similar propensity for politicising music and incorporating narcissistic philosophising without making it wanky. With its day-glo boxiness and flyingpan-to-the-back-of-the-head ferocity I can only predict the artpunk squadrons will be falling over themselves in a confusion of nonchalant anti-apathy to be the first not to show they really did listen.