Album Review

Electric Guest – Mondo

• 19th May 2012

This is an instantly likeable album that also grows on you on subsequent listens. The remarkably varied songs do start to feel more coherent after a few plays, culminating in a sound that is joyful and fun, with a hint of melancholy and a platoon of skippy beats.

A traditional blend of happy music with some tender and heartfelt lyrics means there is nothing in Mondo that hasn’t been heard before, but this does not alter the enjoyment it offers and provides an easy route in. I have played this to a variety of musicians and lay listeners aged from 14 to 40, and the instant appeal is universal.

Electric Guest (where does that name come from?) is a groovy pop band that have just embarked on a songwriting career. They have the obvious advantage of some excellent production, courtesy of American musician, songwriter and producer Danger Mouse, but that’s not the gloss that makes them work. They are equally tight as a live band, with a vocal and musical range that is a faithful rendition of the studio product.

Cunningly, the album opens with ‘Awake’, which sets the sound scene with a lively groove and hippie overtones. More solid grooving comes in with ‘The Bait’, which stands out for its gentle but pleading nature, as well as an electronic chorus that pops in and out, mixing well with the melodramatic tone of the song.

Electronic wheezes underpin ‘Under the Gun’, which tells the story of the desire for fame and the ultimate failure of this dream, followed by ‘This Head I Hold’, which is instantly more joyous. It’s a ditty all about getting just that little higher, contained by a vocal that sounds like it has enjoyed the injection of laughing gas – Mickey Mouse goes Motown as he “goes higher”.

A Hammond organ/concertina gets wheeled out for ‘Holes’, creating a plodding intro that is a little too slow and pained. The electronic meddling is irritating, and obscures and jars against the lyrics.

It’s at this, the halfway point, that another criticism arises: there’s one too many love songs. I’m not sure which song tips the balance, but by the time ‘Amber’ arrives, when the boppy intros that characterise so many of the songs on this album turn to yearning, we realise that not only is this yet another love song, the lyrics offer little that is new. Pleasant as the rhymes might be, the story on offer is too personal and adds little to the ‘what is love all about’ debate.

I don’t mind the odd love song, but this album could do well to lean further towards ‘Waves’, which revives the spirits with a jolly anthem of fun – twiddly bits included. ‘Waves’ has a catchy, clappy intro and some more of those ultra-high lyrics. “They say that love is easy, but they forgot you… I love to hate you…” and makes for a far more entertaining take on what it’s like to be 23 and in love. While admittedly another love song, it is a wry observation of love’s joy and confusion.

The album’s tour de force is ‘Trouble Man’, a magnum opus that revolves around the ‘she’s got it bad for me’ theme. This is a signature offering, summing up Electric Guest’s sound, but it really is too long… The album wraps up with ‘American Day Dream’, equipped with the chant, “We keep yelling we don’t want it”, and ‘Control’, which includes more clapping and beseeching.

Accepting the criticisms, this is a fabulous debut album that promises more. Perhaps a more eclectic view of life in the lyrics would better match some of the jaunty and jangly musical creations, because it’s when this band are having fun that they produce their best, most joyous material.