"Mt St Helens Vietnam Band"
(Dead Oceans)
seven / ten
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MT ST HELENS VIETNAM BAND "Mt St Helens Vietnam Band" (Dead Oceans)
seven / ten |
Imagine if you will, an alternate reality where, instead of struggling in the Dublin music scene of the 1960s and having the misfortune to be mates with Brush Shiels, Phil Lynott grew up in Montreal and began a band with various members of the Arcade Fire et al. Listening to the debut album by Mt St Helens Vietnam Band is the cause of such thoughts of pure fantasy.
This Seattle five piece have been hyped to high heaven almost from the moment they began practicing (though any band with a 13 year old drummer will garner a certain amount of column inches), and while there's bound to be the slightest element of disappointment due to such media interest, this eponymous album has plenty to recommend it.
The sheer sense of abandon and youthful vigour evident on this record is easy to warm to. Though the usual modern day indie references (e.g. Wolf Parade & Modest Mouse) can be checked off the list; bandleader Benjamin Verdoes and his mates clearly love their 70s rock. Straight from the off ('Who's Asking') and all the way through to 'On The Collar', the ghosts of Thin Lizzy and Deep Purple are raised from the dead. Some of the vicious twin guitar work is reminiscent of Scott Gorham and Gary Moore, and allied to indie sensibilities it makes for an unusual, but ultimately winning mixture.
Scenesters Stateside have lambasted Mt St Helens Vietnam Band for the manner in which they have been thrust into the spotlight, but if they continue to churn out album of this quality then they can stay right where they are.
Alan Morrissey
www.myspace.com/mtsthelensvietnamband
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