Search - Russia Forward :: Give Me a Wall

From Russia with love...not!

Scott Bresinger | New York, USA | 12/08/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"!Forward Russia! is a new band from England, not Russia or any former Soviet republics. In fact, the only connection I think they might have with the land of vodka (mmm...vodka!) is that their debut album, "Give Me A Wall," is available for download on a few of those quasi-"legal" Russian mp3 sites. Anyway, the band is another entry into the English post-punk revival parade that began (for all intents and purposes) with Franz Ferdinand and continued with bands like Bloc Party and Kaiser Chiefs (not to mention Art Brut and Arctic Monkeys etc. ad nauseum). The main distinguishing feature of !FR! is a more high-concept stance than many of the others. Starting with the cheekiness of their oh-so-cleverly punctuated name to the strategy of naming their songs after numbers--i.e. "Thirteen," "Twelve" and even "Fifteen Pt. 1" and "Fifteen Pt. 2"(!), they then continue with smarter-than-thou lyrics to rival even the Decemberist's Colin Meloy for sheer vocabulary indulgence. Take this couplet from "Thirteen": "We can all change our tegument's function/Replace the outer shell with something more neoteric." Musically, they mine many of the usual suspects for inspiration. Angular guitar riffs courtesy of Gang Of Four, Big Rock Hooks courtesy of early U2, and a vocalist (Tom Woodhead) who sounds like some weird genetic experiment to cross the Cure's Robert Smith with Pere Ubu's David Thomas. Woodhead also doubles on synth, which, when noticeable, recall the Eurotechno that's been popular for years (see also: Muse). Their lack of originality combined with their over-arch sesibility should pretty much sink them, but strangely enough they kind of grow on you after a while. Who knows? If they have ambition on a par with their vocabulary, someday we can even compare them with Radiohead!"