More on: Cajun Dance Party

Label: XL Recordings
Release Date: 28/04/08
Rating:

'The Colourful Life', the debut album from Cajun Dance Party, consists of just nine tracks of Bernard Butler produced indie rock, three of which have already been released as singles. With just six songs that are new, there is the question of why Cajun Dance Party have bothered to release an album in an industry now dominated by downloads and live shows.

The title track is a breezy enough opener, and is what you would expect from a Butler production - rolling drums and crunchy guitars aplenty that are sweetened by welcome flourishes of violin. Daniel Blumberg spits nonsensical lyrics in a voice bearing an uncanny resemblance to Luke Pritchard of The Kooks.

'The Race' is another bouncy arrangement with Blumberg looking for more shards of inspiration but coming out empty handed, although the chorus of "the sun will rise/even if you don't happen to be there" will undoubtedly outstay its welcome in your head given half a chance. "D-d-d-day comes..." - by 'Time Falls', Blumberg's overwrought vocals are beginning to get seriously irritating, for some reason applying a fake stammer to an otherwise anonymous tune in some kind of bizarre attempt to endear himself to the listener.

'The Next Untouchable' is just one riff dragged on for five minutes, and it seems the lyrics are getting worse: "do you really like me/cos one and one and one is three". Your toe may tap but it's unlikely to engage any other part of the body. This is followed by a brief respite; 'No Joanna' benefits from a change in pace and is an enjoyable waltz, understated violin and cello complement the picked electric guitar tones, and the vocals are slightly less over-wrought. However, the lyrics however are still depressingly run of the mill.

'Amylase' however, is a solid gold pop song, sounding a bit like the younger sibling of Idlewild's 'You Held The World In Your Arms'. As the violins soar and guitars jangle the track carries you along on sheer weight of enthusiasm just like a pop hit should. This shows just what Cajun Dance Party are capable of when they hit their stride. 'The Firework' and 'Buttercups' serve only to illustrate the gulf in quality between 'Amylase' and the rest of the album; yet more routine stomp along with yelped vocals and at one point, shock horror, the use of the F-word. Maybe not time for mothers to lock up their daughters quite yet though.

'The Hill, The View & The Lights' closes 'The Colourful Life' on a relative high. It is a relief to hear a different voice, with Vicky Freund singing the opening sections of the track and sounding not unlike a young, carefree Chrissie Hynde. Freund's natural tones are a world apart from the over earnestness on display throughout the rest of the album, and even when Blumberg joins in, he sounds like he's not trying so hard and sings with a refreshing sincerity.

At times 'The Colourful Life' is tremendously irritating and depressingly characterless, but tracks such as 'Amylase' and 'The Hill, The View & The Lights' show that given a bit more time to grow and develop, Cajun Dance Party can become a band capable of sustained quality rather than flashes of brilliance amid of mire of identikit indie.

Andrew Grillo

Cajun Dance Party Myspace