The press release accompanying this E.P. is heavy stuff. The Jester’s Dead is described as “the antidote to their country’s rotten shell, work pacified bloat rhetoric…best used as a recovery tool against the lack of self awareness exhibited by the sagging drones that precipitate and ultimately enforce out society’s poor, limp-wristed form of quasi-idealism, one that is no longer even tragic-comedy.” Pause for breath. There’s also a little tongue-in-cheek philosophy thrown in there for good measure. Heavy stuff indeed. It comes as a massive surprise then when the record kicks off with an upbeat, keyboard laden electro-pop song.
That track, ‘Chalk Avenue’, is in essence a synthy pop rock tune that has as much Andrew WK about it as it does You Me At Six. It comes from the stable next door to Saving Aimee and Exit Avenue, sounding more grown up and better educated. It fits a genre that’s all too easy to dismiss yet, somehow, manages to sound fresh and vital. Across the next two tracks the band pretty much sticks to the formula, combining punk-rock with electronica and sugary pop to create an intense yet readily available sound.
Closing track ‘144’ proves it’s not all about electro gimmickry showcasing the band in more of a straight-up punk rock vein. The synths return for the chorus but during the verses there’s a little Chief-esque melodic hardcore in there. It’s a real case for saving the best for last, a forceful and impacting offering that along with the opening track proves a fantastic bookend to the E.P. as a whole.
Overall this self-titled offering proves to be a decent little posi number, all pessimistic in scope but oh so jubilant in execution. The jester may be dead, but joviality has a way of hanging around.
Alex