Ex Men - The Curator

by Adrian Huggins

published: 12 / 12 / 2008

Label: Exmen
Format: CDS

Potentially promising sleazy electro rock from Scottish two piece, the Ex Men, ruined by some terrible spoken dialogue

Review

Scottish two piece, the Ex Men, serve up a good slab of sleazy electro rock with ‘The Curator’. I must admit I was really enjoying the beat loops and thumping bass and synths, but then the vocals kicked in. They sound like a public school boy trying to sound common and attempting to do an alternative version of Ewan McGregor's‘Choose Life’ monologue in 'Trainspotting'. In combining an indie feel to a real dancey track they conjure up comparisons to Simian Mobile Disco mixed with Daft Punk, which is certainly a very, very good thing, so why ruin it with talking ? At least get someone with a less irritating accent to do so. The second track ‘Godot on Call Back’ made me feel like I’d accidentally got on the line and was listening to two gay lovers having a tiff on their mobiles while one of them was standing outside a really good nightclub. Maybe that was the idea, but if it was it wasn’t subtle enough to seem clever and wasn’t clever enough to seem real, just somewhere in between. The fact is it actually sounded like one guy talking to himself on the phone. What an awkward conversation that was – "I’ve got to go. I’m expecting another call." Who from ? Someone that’s not in your head, mate ? I’m totally torn by this as I loved the music, but just felt distracted by the dialogue which felt do scripted and completely un-natural that it was as if it was some sort of Chris Morris parody. If the vocals were to sound a lot less staged this could be a pretty good record, but it just unfortunately sounds like a media studies project.