(from CWSY#5, March '01) / home / reviews index
The
Aislers Set - 'The Last Match' (Fortuna
Pop!)
Do you believe in love at first sight? Love at first listen?
When a band you've never heard of give you something you've never heard. When sometime one-woman-band Amy Linton hits you with the classic rock 'n' roll twang of 'The Way to Market Station', riff repeated over until that split-second just before it becomes annoying, vintagely echoed beat still pounding on after the tune's run out of steam. It calls to mind a little woman bouncing her head from side to side as she sings, a gang of amateurs having fun and not giving a hot damn what others say. Then you say, they say "and words so true they're trite…" and you keep quiet.
A fuller band unites on the handclap-peppered 'Hit the Snow', a Christmassy tune complete with toy xylophone, while 'Chicago New York' marks the appearance of Wyatt Cusack, also of under-rated indie bunch Trackstar. He sings with the slight falsetto of Stuart Murdoch, while elsewhere guitars squeak like Belle & Sebastian's, but tracks like 'Been Hiding' and the kitschy 'Balloon Song' are pure US garage-pop. Amy has a slightly whiny voice, but you know she isn't really complaining:
This is an album filled with "la-la"s, "ah-ah"s and even "bum-bum"s, always buoyant despite the trouble in the actual words. The title track, bumping along as if it's the last march, has Amy admitting "and you lied. And I lied" ascending like she's singing about cakes in the school production, glorifying these troubles as part and parcel of life. "what pretty little things we are." In a world where in our relationships "we only hope we gain more than we give up", 'The Red Door' is a beautiful offer, "I could be your favourite bar in town. Could be the whisky, wine and the beer", allied to an early Clash clash with an Orange Juice organ. 'The Walk' is a gentler piece of underground Motown sentiment while 'Fairnt Chairnt' gallops along with a barking trumpet like a Hanna-Barbara cartoon soundtrack with sunny ska keyboards, and 'Bang Bang Bang' ends it all with trumpet blaring, overlaid vocals and piano unfolding to make you go "ahhh". Ahhh.
You may never have heard of this band, but I urge you to take a gamble. You're sure to gain more than you give up.
