Wednesday 7 October 2015

Duck Thieves: Act One

Prominent on my headphone playlist this week has been the newly released EP from Duck Thieves, Act One. This three-track hurricane lifts my house up by the foundations and dumps me down into a stomping marionette puppet show with Duck Thieves in the starring roles. They weave into their music the humour, energy and imagery of their highly entertaining live shows.

To kick us off, The Birds unleashes a chiaroscuro of chaos upon our unsuspecting ears, with black-and-white boardroom antics ("he's got stock options") ignited immediately into glorious technicolour (although not before the sky darkens) with the attack of a deadly swarm of birds in what I can only describe as a musical whumpf. Prokofiev would have been proud of their mean and punchy guitar riff had he been visited by a time travelling Duck Thief to suggest a new theme for Peter and the Wolf.

Popcorn Girl, particularly its delicately layered introductory passage dripping with minor expression, reminds me of the creative influences of The Sequins (a band to which of course some members of Duck Thieves formerly belonged). This song of improbable and unrequited love, "with protons and quarks so alike", reminds me that we are all, like Duck Thieves, creatures of energy. Justin's obsession with Brian May might indeed be that, but provides a true and faithful interpretation, as throughout the EP he injects real sparks of Queen-esque guitar, with a mastery of guitar effects that is difficult to match.

My favourite track is Drive. I have always been a fan of a good upbeat finale, and I am driven to transportations of joy by the refrain of "what about the jobless... they don't drive". I have to say that even without a knowledge of the "copy and paste concrete" street blocks, I am actually starting to care where Morrissey lives at. Particularly skilful in my mind is the call and answer of the backing vocals (i.e. "so young, and so alone..."). This is really accomplished musicianship, supremely rhythmically intelligent, and adds an epic quality to the track, and a grand statement though it may be, it is really in this track that I hear a true touch of Queen. The EP really ends on a high, and it was with a genuine and wide smile on my face that I finished the first, second and third listenings to this track.

I particularly enjoy Justin's rich lead vocal performance throughout Act One, with the ability to inject real humour to proceedings, while having an impressive range both in pitch and dynamics. Knowing something of the reputation of this band for impressive live shows, this is an important transition to recording which I think has worked extremely well.

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