IMPERIAL LEISURE are a band with a curious mix of sounds. The opening track on ‘Death To The One Trick Pony’, complete with horn section and shouty refrain of “you must be fucking joking” sets the sophistication standard for the album, and though the 14 songs that make up IMPERIAL LEISURE’s sophomore album are all punchy, direct and full of north London grit, the album as a whole is somewhat hit and miss.
The best songs on the album are when IMPERIAL LEISURE let loose some underlying indie desires – the pulsing synths and catchy chorus in ‘Dance Floor’ sticks out like a sore thumb on an album that sometimes is missing this fun abandonment. ‘Can’t Lie’ is another example of when IMPERIAL LEISURE get it right, with a fine balance of swaggering attitude and reckless chaos, while ‘Dead Model’ is the album’s finest moment.
However, when IMPERIAL LEISURE come across as confused as to what band they want to be, their songs are let down. This confliction is never more evident than in ‘Number One’ and ‘I Thought They’d Love You’ (which goes on for a long four minutes), and while the atmospheric guitars are well done, it ultimately fails to make any real emotional impact.
Moments of innovation crop up on the album, with the hip hop influenced ‘Bitter and Twisted’ being a fine example. It’s a song that is genuinely invigorating to listen to and points to a direction that could make IMPERIAL LEISURE rise above ska mimics into an exciting breakthrough band.
‘Death To The One Trick Pony’ isn’t a bad album, but it’s hard to shrug off the prevailing sense that IMPERIAL LEISURE don’t know what they want to be just yet, and to distract you from this, they just simply grasp at every genre hoping something will stick. While the album’s title may allude to this, they don’t do it completely convincingly. On the whole, the album is enjoyable if you can forgive its youthful search for identity and take it as an early indicator of better things to come.
CLARA CULLEN