Everywhere Everywhere

Everything Everything. I wasn’t expecting this, I really wasn’t. Everything Everything’s debut album ‘Man Alive’ is packed with ideas and influence. I’m a huge Modest Mouse fan and I have never found an act that goes on seemingly pointless and distracting tangents, or whose lead singer makes such strange sounds from his mouth, that even comes close to them.

I’ve not seen EE live before but I did see Opera House who guitarist Alex used to play for. I remember commenting on his ‘wizard hands.’ The slick and seamless guitar style he plays layers tunes in a way you could never achieve with a keyboard, most notably in ‘Schoolin.’

The single ‘MY KZ, UR BF’ is a complex tune whose structure although relatively straight forward is full of so many layers and ideas every listen offers something else. The staggered, sometimes linear drum beat really grounds the tune back and keeps it under control. I love the singer Jonathan’s weird style of singing through the verses, expelling air in a crazed tuneful sort of way, and then settling into a very catchy and memorable chorus.

My favourite section of the album has to be the end of ‘Qwerty Fingers.’ Like with all quirky style bands there are often hidden gems of emotion and power. I don’t mean this in a Bloc Party way where every tune attempts to be the dance filler of the summer but in a raw and unexpected way. The tunes are extremely diverse with random comparisons such as ‘Tin (The Manhole)’ which could easily be influenced by folktronica specialists Tuung.  

A couple of tunes jump out as singles but I would say this is an album to be enjoyed as an album. The songs complement and flow with each other and although there may be sections you are waiting to finish so you can hear the next, isn’t that quality? Coming back to my earlier comparison of Modest Mouse who’s album ‘Good News For People Who Like Bad News,’ has tunes you wouldn’t dream of listening to on there own. 30 second rants with them wishing someone dead are what make them brilliant, you’re sat waiting for the next section you do like and for that to randomly turn emotive then back to weird again.

There haven’t been a lot of British acts that I’ve picked up on in the past couple of years. Nothing that’s really grabbed my attention but Everything Everything have definitely interested me. This is my first blog for this page and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this band as my starting point. I’d say ones to watch but they seem to have arrived already.

http://www.myspace.com/everythingeverythinguk

x