Album Review

Assembly Now – Graphs, Maps and Trees

• 8th Aug 2007

I’m slightly concerned that my old headmaster has started writing songs because this is exactly what he used to say to me when he found me smoking behind the bike sheds each morning. Assembly! Now!

Paranoia aside, I realise this isn’t actually my headmaster but yet another proficient young indie quartet from London. Their single Graphs, Maps and Trees is a very festival-friendly offering, which follows the template for modern indie, to the dot. It’s got the guitar hook, the tight drums and the anglo-ironic sounding vocals that place it comfortably within the genre.

My honest feeling, however, is that this scene is getting a bit tired. How much room is there for another indie band that sounds the same as all the others? Not much, in my opinion. Even Koko-ites are surely going to want some kind of evolution soon. Graphs, Maps and Trees lacks diversity or real creativity. Sadly, it doesn’t seem to want to lead but merely follow the scene.

There is hope for Assembly Now however and the second song on the release, entitled ‘Calculate’ is a more interesting track. It’s got a bit of The Arcade Fire and a bit of The Cure in there, embellished with a vocal style akin to The Good Books. This rich and more contemplative format is where they should be taking their music. Assembly Now can cleary play and sing but they need to EXPLORE a little more because you can only have so many sheep in a flock before one of them starts dawdling and gets attacked by a wolf and left for dead whilst the rest move on to new pastures with nicer grass and a little stream for them to suckle on when they get thirsty.