It would be very easy to base a review on Second Monday and simply get no further than their age. A lot of the press surrounding the Winchester crew has already centred around the fact they are just, on average, 16-years-old, and to already have a sound which encompasses much of ‘Re-Writes Won’t Cover Up’ is highly impressive for ones so young. But let’s face it – it doesn’t matter if you’re 16 or 60 because if you cannot play you’ll be caught out. In music age is pretty irrelevant. McFly are teenagers and have already had a number one single, but that doesn’t make them any good. Music has to do the talking so it’s a good job that Second Monday allow their fretboards and other assorted instruments to spill their guts for them.
It doesn’t take a genius to work out that SM can play. Although they favour a sound that has been adopted by a large number of bands, the quartet rattle through six songs which show a far more mature sound than their last EP. When I received that I was astounded at how good it did sound, but felt it was a little unoriginal. My advice at the time was to go away and come back with a sound they could call their own and of course hardly anyone agreed – except the band of course. For SM circa 2004 are a far more inventive and original band than they were 12-months ago. They’re no At The Drive-In, or Mars Volta, as at times they threaten to be, but they manage to create squally sounds that prove to be as atmospheric as they are imperative to their success. It’s post-hardcore Jim, but not as we’ve mostly been hearing.
Of course Second Monday are bound to bamboozle just as many as they excite – the MTV generation of three minute radio anthems and catchy choruses will probably be dismayed to find there is little of that here, bar the odd moment such as the melodies contained within ‘This Is Not Everything’, but then SM are on a learning curve and to expect the ultimate masterpiece this soon is unrealistic. But disposable anthems are not what SM are about at all. The complexities of ‘A Day In The Life Of…’ remind me of Thursday‘s ‘War All The Time’ opus, while the closing ‘Living On Borrowed Time’ is an aural pleasure.
This is a big step on from their last record and shows the growth of maturity I knew was in them. There’s still some way to go I feel before Second Monday write the record their collective talents are desperate to deliver, but there seems little doubt that if the band can keep up what they are doing now, they could seriously be world-beaters inside five years. They need to keep their heads screwed on and keep working hard – eventually they will find their Holy Grail. It’s just not quite here yet…
www.secondmonday.net
Lockjaw Records
Paul