Chris DeLine

One of the most relieving aspects of actually hearing Myths of the Near Future is that new-rave sounds nothing like it sounds…that makes sense, right? New-rave, a term self proposed by the band to surround the idea of its music, had the overwhelming charm of jock-rock when it first crossed my path and still does somewhat to this day. That factor combined with the untimely release of the group’s latest Xan Valleys EP, which came at a time when it was hard to tell The Horrors from its Klaxons counterparts as NME went into straight up pusher mode. A month or two back during a conversation with a friend, a mention came of bloggers’ short-attention spans and the band came up where the defense given on my behalf sided with the band’s overexposure and my friend’s argument suggested that the group’s demise would be a long time off. With the UK release of Myths of the Near Future, his prediction proved itself at least somewhat true and it became my duty to again, try to prove him wrong.

Before my bias was coming by way of hype-snub, but now even after hearing the band it must be noted again that one of the most relieving aspects of actually hearing the band is that new-rave is far from what it suggests. At its most electronic the group plays a guitar based house, but new-house doesn’t really deliver itself in the same light as new-rave, does it?

Tracks such as “Totem in a Timeline” are if anything new-indie, with a flutter of short choppy hooks within a lyrical revolving door in which the one verse and chorus duke it out for a few rounds. Wait a moment, a repeating sound with little lyrical content (though any song that includes “Famagusta’s hive” is alright by me) based on hooks rather than tangents…? Pop the E, stick a soother in your mouth, grab some glow sticks and take your shirt off, because tonight…we (new) rave!

Unfortunately there are lulls as the album winds down and one ultimately begins to question the ability of a historically singles-only band when releasing an entire album of material; even if there are a few old favorites included along the way. “Isle of Her” is a good song, but it’s the tedious kind of good; it’s the ‘I’ve just spent the evening playing euchre at the nursing home’ kind of good. And by the time “Four Horsemen of 2012” chimes in with its electro-punk chic the band, much like its listener, is tired.

Ultimately the album isn’t bad and new tracks such as “Gravity Skans” add depth which helps prove that argument suggesting the band to be history is a failed one. That being said Myths of the Near Future has a lot of bad qualities, but it’s just that it makes you forget about them by beating you over the head with its unexpectedly solid songs such as that just mentioned. The album is the abusive new-rave husband to my docile housewife.

[This post was first published by Culture Bully.]