Search - Unrest :: Imperial F.F.R.R.

Shimmering pop confections

busotti | 04/02/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Imperial is the album in which Unrest found its voice. For several albums up to its release Unrest dabbled in arty punk, low brow progressive rock, hardcore thrashing, pop melodies and whatever else seemed to capture their attention at the moment. Few acts ever successfully pull off that much eclecticism and Unrest was not exception. There may have been a few hints at what was to come, but Imperial tossed away the noise and punk and put minimalist melodies up front. On songs like "Suki" and "Cherry Cream On" the guitarists hand seems ablaze in strumming, as if they were listening to Big Flame, the early Wedding Present, or the New Zealand Scene.



The songs are built on small repetitive melodies tastefully intertwining with the vocal duties split between male and female, frequently only two instruments play at once and this stood apart from the maximum overload of much of what was trendy at the time.



When this record came out it sharply divided the cognoscenti. One one camp were those seduced by these darkly exuberant confections. Others were distrustful that this seemed like a watering down of indie ideals of rough edges, warts and dissonance popular in the early 90s. A lot of bands were trying to sound organic and "real" but Imperial is all artifice and glacial studio perfection, until you pay attention. One camp would see "Cherry Cream On" as mind numbing pop silliness, but others might take pleasure in the subtle sexual innuendos so carefully entwined. And "June" is possibly the most darkly lovely song since the Chills "Pink Frost".



Years later it is clear that this record has stood up well with the 90's classic records by My Bloody Valentine, Pavement, Stereolab, Nirvana, etc. Perfect Teeth built on this formula in a less minimalist and slightly less successful manner and by the time of the Air Miami project it seemed as if their obsession with artifice has gone to far with less interesting results. But we'll always have Imperial and the great singles they put out around this time (some piled on as bonus tracks for this reissue)."