The Rumble Strips – Girls and Weather Review
I heard about The Rumble Strips through Chomewaves and furthermore through Panic Manual’s Ricky who talked to me about the show doing very poorly in terms of numbers. Their album, Girls and Weather was released last year and was given a quiet release stateside this year. Being on a label that is a small wing of a major label, should have netted them some more publicity but alas, they have been seldom heard.
At initial trials, I really didn’t warm to any of their songs with the exception of Motorcycle which is a cute little track for all the bicyclists out there. Even then, I wasn’t initially smitten with the track but I still gave it time and was eventually hooked onto that track. I was unsure about other tracks such as Girls and Boys in Love at first but I still wanted to check out Girls and Weather.
The Rumble Strips are hard to classify, if I had to choose I would say something like ska experimental or ska indie. Lead singer Charlie Waller has that distinct British accent that may seem a little bit typical, while musically they are all over the place with the use of various instruments like the sax and trumpet. Ska usually gets a negative connotation these days as more often then not it’s to target the teenage crowd, however there is nothing wrong with the Rumble Strips in this case.
In the case of needing to warm up to their songs stays true to their album. Initial reactions weren’t very positive but after letting it sink in and getting settled in, things are pretty good. The Rumble Strips know how to make a good pop song, even if they use various elements to get there, it ultimately is simplistic building off one strong aspect of the song and repeating. Lyrically it’s not as provocative or captivating, it’s just satisfactory.
However, they are still an above average band (with a good looking lead singer, anyone else figure out why they are on a major label?) and that’s already been recognized. They have a bit of Franz Ferdinand way of going about things and it works extremely well, almost seemingly careless.
My favorite track is the aforementioned Motorcycle, followed closely is Clouds which has a fun arrangement and it’s pretty easy to find things to like on this record.
Rating: 3.9 out of 5
I don’t want to commit to calling the Rumble Strips great but it’s definitely more then understandable.
Motorcycle by The Rumble Strips
Check out the video to Motorcycle after the jump.
Tags: album
I have to agree with you again on this great review.