The Concretes

[obiwankobe]

The Concretes
Layourbattleaxedown

On their excellent self-titled 2004 album, the Concretes cloaked the girl-group pop of Phil Spector and Motown in the narcotic haze of the Velvet Underground and the Jesus and Mary Chain, weaving traces of country alongside their warbling horns, ecstatic strings, and droning distortion. Now here's Layourbattleaxedown, a surprisingly consistent B-sides and rarities disc. Opener "Forces" tips listeners off that this set, like earlier EP collection Boyoubetterrunnow or side project Heikki, leans more toward spare, country-tinged songwriting than their breakthrough's candy-store pop, lush sleigh ride "Lady December" proving the primary exception.

Even if you're not as big on the band's more countrified efforts, don't miss their version of "Miss You". Like many of the Rolling Stones' hits, this one always seemed like basically just a riff, albeit a killer one-- plus "disco sucks" man, amiright? But the Concretes' version concentrates on the lyrics' stiff-lipped heartbreak, replacing Jagger's preening yowl with Victoria Bergsman's slight, dispassionate vocals, hauntingly multi-tracked for the wordless hook. "Oh, baby," one wonders, "why you wait so long?" After all, saxophones are dying, electric guitars crumbling like a decrepit imperial capitol. The pace and mood rarely alter throughout this collection, but the mournful "Oh Baby", complacent "Free Ride", and string-drenched "The Warrior" all would have been strong enough for The Concretes. Arboreal lullabies "Branches" and "Under Your Leaves" err toward preciousness, but they're (stop me now) growers.

"Seems Fine", from the full-length, captures the idée fixe of the Concretes-- or most great pop songs, for that matter-- in that it's all about appearances, or rather, all about the disjunction between crystalline, perfect exteriors and uncontrollable emotion. "Seems Fine Shuffle" gives the original a bluegrass makeover, and it turns out to be an improvement. Here, as throughout, Layourbattleaxedown strips bare the moody, terse melancholy that gives even the Concretes' peppier material its emotional resonance.

-Marc Hogan, July 19, 2005