I’ve been sat here for a couple of hours now and this record is still baffling me. The Je Ne Sais Quoi are “two young boys, one girl and one halfway old man†from Sweden who play a strangely dysfunctional indie rock that seems to stutter and misfire more times than the first car I ever bought. I won’t get into that story, it makes me mad to recall the times I’d have to push start it at junctions. Anyway, the quartet liken themselves to bands such as Le Tigre, The Make Up and Sonic Youth; a concoction that does absolutely nothing to stir me personally, but I can imagine many people will enjoy it.
‘We Make Beginnings’ is very disjointed. There’s little semblance of balance or structure in the songs, and while that may be the point of it all, it’s something I don’t think I’ll ever ‘get’. It means tracks like ‘The Real Future Blues’ and ‘Magic Potion’ are pretty skippable efforts that leave little lasting impression. At their best, however, there are nods towards The (International) Noise Conspiracy, especially vocally and in the tone of the guitars. The female vocals also work really well, often off-setting the garbage-can production.
It might well be that The Je Ne Sais Quoi are really good at what they do, but ultimately this is a genre of music that I don’t get too much enjoyment out of. ‘Live Transmission’ gets half a star on its own for the kooky sounding keyboards. It’s a pity there’s not more of it on this record really.
Released on Coalition Records
Paul