Emocore! Okay, it isn’t. But some of you might claim it to be borderline. I, however, would maintain that these guys bring a raw and exciting sound to an already well-travelled genre. And because that isn’t the easiest thing to do, I feel as if this English post-punk/alternative trio, Tubelord, deserve to be featured on Indie Shuffle. Indeed, their catchy hooks, entrancing bridges, and bright math-pop sound does, at the very least, evoke a range of contrasting opinions
No hook is ever expanded upon too thoroughly, or even played long enough for it to become familiar. Tubelord, it seems, suffer – though perhaps to our benefit – from a sort of musical attention deficit disorder. This keeps the listening experience fresh, if not a bit exhausting, throughout the length of this stunning debut album – Music Ohm
In contrast, however, others have found the lack of expansion to be frustrating:
It’s not like these guys can’t write a hook: there are catchy riffs here that make you prick your ears up and go ‘ooh, that’s interesting/clever/nicely done’. Perhaps half the problem is that those quirky little moments are used all too sparsely, and wrapped up in songs that, in the main, sound unoriginal and generic. That, too, is maddening: after all, Tubelord are pulling their influences from a lot of places, which you would think – or at least hope – would result in something interesting. Instead, it’s more like the distinctiveness has been blended out, creating a competent yet oddly bland outcome. It’s like a homemade smoothie with too much banana and not enough pineapple – Drowned in Sound
It’s all subjective, in the end, so give the song a listen and see if you like. It has certainly grabbed my attention for the last few days.