Album Review : UUVVWWZ - UUVVWWZ
- Written by Kenneth McMurtrie
Coincidentally this arrived for review on the very day I was reading another scribe's thoughts on the increase in double 'V' bands. After Wavves and Lovvers here then are Lincoln, Nebraska's answer to that most unpronouncable of Superman villains, Mr. Mxyzptlk. They handily have a guide to pronunciation on their MySpace page so you should be able to avoid hair-tearing worry at getting it wrong.
Left of centre in the indie field the quartet have a pretty distinctive sound and a memorable singer in the shape of Teal Gardner (not a colour I've ever before seen as a forename for sure). Blackberry could craft an intriguing advert if they signed up to use the first song on the album to advertise their much loved products. 'Berry Can' begins in spare and haunting fashion but ups the ante after a couple of minutes to become, musicly at least, quite a growling beast. After that it's loud/quiet/loud for the rest of the way.
Progressing through the remaining eight tracks the best are 'Shark Suit', 'Neolano', 'Green Starred Sleeve', 'The Sun' and 'Hum Jam'. I'm still not sure whether 'Jap Dad' is a PC title or not...
Overall, though, this is not a release that set the heather on fire for me and I was consistently easily distracted whilst listening to it, so I can't say that it's ultimately any better than middle of the road.
