Tokyo Police Club, Elephant Shell

by Gordon Lamb
04/05/2008

With this release, Omaha’s venerable Saddle Creek label has entered the realm of that other regionally-identified label, Sub Pop. That is, just as Sub Pop can no longer be properly termed a “grunge” label, neither is Saddle Creek the home of only singer-songwriters. It is to their eternal credit that they’ve expanded their tastes. It’s less certain, though, that Tokyo Police Club was the band worth doing it for.

For all the hype surrounding the band, Elephant Shell is hardly an original take on, well, anything. Opening with “Centennial” the band utilizes a great vocal melody but gives us an arrangement that is straight from the Death Cab For Cutie reject bin. Most irritating are the keyboard parts on the first two songs. Every shred of Rock-n-Roll, which Tokyo Police Club clearly have the ability to perform, is watered down this way. It’s impossible to hear “In A Cave” and not immediately think one has slipped in the soundtrack to The O.C. by mistake. It’s all so perfectly blah.

On the other hand, “Graves” features the exact same copyist methodology of the first two tracks but, somehow, works great. Its throbby low-end rhythm and tasteful keyboards work to a wonderfully catchy effect as do the background vocals. So, yeah, they got one right. They lose it right again with the next track “Juno” which is the exact same song but rearranged with a heavy piano punctuated verse.

The evidence is clear they’ve fooled someone, though. Or, actually, thousands who’ve seen them live. Since I haven’t I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt because it could always be the case that this record is watered and wilty simply at the demands of the industry. On the other hand, if I don’t like a book I’m a hell of a lot less likely to give the author a chance at a live reading.

They play the 40 Watt on April 7, so we'll just have to see.

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