TRIBES - Baby

In the frantic race of today's rock hype machine, a good jockey can win over bookmakers and press spotlight alike thanks to credentials that have only the slenderest, if not downright flimsy, ties to the music itself. Take gossip, for instance, another vaguely celebratory name for plain old tittle-tattle. Only a few weeks ago came news of an alleged flirtation between Dan White (Tribes guitarist) and the lovely Scarlett Johansson (o tempora, o mores!, just think that once upon a time it was Miles Davis and Juliette Greco, or Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull, who ended up sweetly entwined…). Of course, one should never joke too carelessly about matters of the heart, and yet, when it comes to this Camden quartet, the impression is that there isn't really much else to say.

A quintessential rock'n'roll band, all pose and attitude from the pointy tips of their ankle boots to the last strand of tousled hair, Tribes churn out a collection of supremely youthful anthems, poised somewhere between Razorlight, Kooks, We Are Scientists, Rooney (remember them?), Libertines (and their various offshoots), Cribs, and even the latest Kings Of Leon (“Alone Or With Friends”), and so on. The unsettling sense of deja vu is at times disconcerting: can anyone who's followed rock, especially the British kind, for more than five years really claim to be sincerely interested in the exploits of these four card-carrying rascals? The answer is evidently yes, at least judging by the solid success the album is enjoying. The reasons lie mainly in romantic, slightly flirtatious choruses that win people over… simply because they're likeable (tracks like “We Were Children”, “Corner Of An English Field”, “Sappho” or “When My Days Come”, perhaps the best of the lot), unspooling with a triumphant swagger and cocky bravado, sinking into the tender, soft-hearted innocence of young, downy-cheeked hearts awaiting their baptism of love.

In recent interviews given to NME, members of Kaiser Chiefs and Kasabian have spoken of an almost irreversible recession hitting guitar-rock (though these gentlemen might first want to take a good look at their own back yard before whining and pointing fingers at everyone else). Yet, judging by recent records such as those by Maccabees or Field Music, the feeling is that excellent guitar-based albums can still be made today, if one really wants to. That said — and take this as a purely personal opinion — a record like “Baby” (argh!) feels almost like the ultimate argument for selling off one's Fender and taking up pilates for good.

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28/01/2012