The Outline. Makes me think of a murder scene, one where the body has gone but white chalk tracing remains. Or, if you’re in a less morbid mood, the framework of something undecided. In this instance, I feel the second definition is more appropriate to LA based Outline and their debut album, ‘You Smash It Up.’
Nevertheless, it begins well. ‘Aesthetics’ evolves from reverberating indie rock guitar fodder to drum and bass fuelled electronic rock with a twist of Hibernian drawl from Graham Fink– a cross between Hot Chip, 65daysofstatic and The National. Personally, a highly droolworthy combination. When they proceed to weave and unravel a tapestry of sound that allows every instrument to explore and explode without a rigid framework in sight, I am well and truly reeled in, and its closing hints at all things psychedelic segue neatly into second track ‘Life or Life Like’, a track that blends The Beta Band with My Chemical Romance without batting an eyelid. “This place is haunted,’ insists Graham as the ghosts of a thousand riffs rattle through the speakers. It’s all good.
‘Death To Our Enemies’ takes a whole new turn though. Austin Lee’s squelchy synths are sinister and ridiculous in equal measures, but Max St John’s guttural bass and Graham’s now-morphed-to-Hetfield vocals lift it from the realms of parody, before being carried aloft on the shoulders of Snow Patrol-esque post-pop epic ‘Why We’re Better.’ Heady, but sailing close to the generic. From here on in, it gets a bit odd.
For some reason, the band decide to go Sheffield. ‘Shotgun,’ ‘My Masked Lust’ and ‘Sloppy Drunk’ could have all been knocked together by the Arctic Monkeys – the hard rock guitar, the nasal whine, the suburban lasciviousness – it all has the whiff of the Steel City’s contribution to rock. Only ‘In Light Of Recent News’ breaks up the ladsiness, with it’s Editor-ial bluster and emotionally sodden guitars. ‘Perfect For The Plain’ attempts to save itself with a touch of Ben Folds-esque piano and ‘Tragic Times’… well, you can’t go wrong with the beats from ‘Kashmir’, can you? I don’t want to say that these songs are bad, per se – I’ll be first to admit that a bit of good time rock and roll is no bad thing. It’s just such a change in tack, making the album almost jack-knife.
Fortunately, it pulls up for ‘Broadway and Hirst’, a Grand Guignol tale of urban revenge and retribution that finds its source and sound somewhere between Sweeney Todd and The Streets. In fact, it’s so good it manages to knock out the kinks. Pretty much. But then I always was a sucker for a tale of woe.
The problem remains though that The Outline are trying to be too much to too many people. Looking at it from a purely commercial point of view, it means that their audience is… well, it could be anywhere. They’re very good, and I have no doubt that when they decide what they’re going to do, they’ll be even better. In the meantime, this serves as an interesting blueprint. The finished product should be spectacular.
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