There is actually something about The Long Blondes I would really like to dislike.
Maybe it’s the art rock pretension, the fashionista wearing of influences on sleeves that at times rides a bit high for one’s liking. Maybe they state their case for what did or didn’t influence them that little bit too much.
The only problem is for the most part they actually get away with what they are doing pretty well. They look good, and their debut album Someone To Drive You Home doesn’t fair too badly for a debut.
Twelve tracks that mine a set of influences that should be obvious to a readily trained set of pop ears. Songs that rifle Cocker’s cast off kitchen sink dramas and domestic scenarios but approached with a caustic feminine flair. It’s not the most original release you are going to encounter this year, taking in aspects of Pulp’s heritage (including production in by ex Pulp member Steve Mackay). Kate Jackson’s vocals veer from an almost Teutonic menace soaring right up to comparisons to Debbie Harry (possibly a touch on the generous side there). Musically they generate a noise that harbours more than a touch of late seventies/early eighties garage rock and most of the time the tracks get by on their own energy, if not originality.
Weekend Without Makeup for examples paints a dark little vignette about a dysfunctional relationship while the recent single (and true highpoint of the album) Once And Never Again is something of a rallying cry for female empowerment and experimentation.
In places though things become a little throwaway with tracks like Swallow Tattoo being hampered by somewhat muddy production while A Knife For The Girls and Madam Ray might have been better relegated to B-side status. On the plus side though Heaven Help The New Girl has a nice bit of swagger about it and You Could Have Both makes for an excellent closer for the album with its quite spoken diatribes.
Overall this isn’t the kind of album that is going to change your life but in the meantime its not a bad way to pass your time because you know that the next time you wind up at your indie disco of choice this lot are going to be playing.
