Given that the entire British music press seem united in the opinion that The Arcade Fire are the greatest band in the world, now is a rather opportune time for The Strange Death Of Liberal England to release their first single proper (after a self-released debut limited to 200 copies). For TSDOLE (self-confessed lovers of all things Canadian) approach music making in a similarly grandiose avant-garde melee of orchestration, instrument swapping, screaming and shouting.
The single is to be released on Fantastic Plastic which should come as no surprise seeing as the label’s A&R policy seems to be to hunt out the most bizarrely named bands in Britain. With Help, She Can’t Swim, Guillemots and the Victorian English Gentlemen’s Club already on their roster, The Strange Death Of Liberal England is merely par for the course.
During their live shows TSDOLE raise placards adorned with slogans such as “Repent!” And this exclamatory approach is exactly how their music sounds. ‘A Day Another Day’, despite opening delicately with post rock style arpeggio guitar and strained, impassioned vocals, builds and builds, slowly but surely, into a giant procession of shouted choruses that is related with even more glorious noise than the Polyphonic Spree at their best. It does sound rather Canadian, and you certainly wouldn’t know this band was from Portsmouth, but they pull it off with equal parts aplomb and reckless abandon.
As well as being noisy and passionate, TSDOLE make undoubtedly literary music. ‘A Day Another Day’s most marvellous refrain, the closing “We are Bandini! Arturo Bandini” is inspired by (or at least references) John Fante’s cult hero. Fante’s novels were extremely influential on the work of every “intellectual” rock star’s favourite author Charles Bukowski and his work ‘The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over The Hills’ also seems to be referenced.
There is not much more to be said than that ‘A Day Another Day’ is a fantastic piece of music. TSDOLE seem to have captured on record their alleged live energy, with the song sounding both grandly orchestral and appropriately rough around the edges. If liberal England is indeed dying a strange death, this is a worthy soundtrack to the funeral.
*****
First published on www.rockfeedback.com. See it here.
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