Thursday, December 22, 2011

STN Albums Of The Year no.9: Standard Fare - Out Of Sight, Out Of Town

The proper release has just been moved back to 24th January but as the preorder includes immediate download and I couldn't be bothered to rewrite everything it still counts

What Standard Fare do isn't rocket science but to make records from a basic indie trio setup that still seems vital, exciting and also intelligent and laced like cyanide with emotional estrangement is much harder than you've been led to imagine. This second album is less regularly immediate than The Noyelle Beat, greater ability and confidence - centrepiece Darth Vader is a slow paen to co-dependency and nobody else's idea of an advance single - enabling greater internal examination of vulnerability. Not that there aren't still riffs designed to send an indiepop crowd nuts but when they come tied to lyrics about split families, knowing unfaithfulness, dead end lives and the Holocaust, all encased within subtly reeled in hooks, it's clear putting thought into it is the paramount importance however much the proportion of flailing bodies may suffer. Except it won't, because they're often just as keen really.

[iTunes]
[Amazon]
[Spotify]

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