The Wombats
A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation (14th Floor)
By Erin Wolf
Published: June 28th, 2008 | 12:00am
Better late than never, it is. Liverpool’s Wombats have been around for quite some time, as has their album, A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation; but their official U.S. release is upon us, so consider this a gentle reminder of their presence — or just a blatant regurgitation. In any case, the Wombats have already garnered hotheaded opinions from both sides. Most of the press is charmed by their trampoline-pop sound, and fans either love them to pieces, or want to drop kick their CD to the nearest garbage bin.
Essentially, if one can get over the "been there, done that" feeling that comes from the Futureheads, the Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, Maxïmo Park, and Art Brut pixie dust sprinkled liberally over all of their songs, the Wombats will get some respect for their capable interpretation and added Beach Boys’ choir convention schooling. Sum this band up as: energetic, youthful, fun, and formulaic as hell.
Formula goes like this: pop + snark. Hooks, beats, and humorous attitudes. That’s pretty much it. Its been heard before, but humor can genuinely be appreciated, for the opposite is dreary and can be said to be just as plastic. There are, however, some good one-liners that satisfy: "She wanted Mary Poppins and I took her to King Lear” (“Lost In the Post”), and “This is my head, this is my spout / Though they work together, they can’t figure anything out” (“Kill the Director). That said, a great majority of the lyricism is not really laugh-out-loud, but cringe-worthy — in the going-down-high-school-memory-lane kind of way. Charming and relatable, yes, but this is a case of “men from boys,” for lack of a better comparison. To roughly quote a comment left on a Wombats’ message board: This is indeed great music, if you’re under the age of 21. ‘nough said.
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The Wombat's official site
The Wombat's MySpace page
Issue #36
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