Ten years ago some music journalists tried to kick-start a new romantic revival of sorts called romo. It gained a cult following (meaning they didn’t sell many records) but was largely scorned by the public since most of the bands looked awful and sounded like Duran Duran. Clearly romo was ahead of its time because the current pop flavour of the month is The Bravery who look awful and sound like Duran Duran.
American indie’s love affair with Britain’s blouse wearing years is no new thing. For some time Hot Hot Heat, The Faint, and more recently The Killers have been mixing eyeliner, analogue synths, and a powerpop sensibility with varying results and fortunes.
The Bravery are from New York and their debut album follows the path of its predecessors fairly closely. While Nick Rhodes and the three Taylors may have inspired the perky keyboards, disco rhythms, and soaring guitars of hit single “Honest Mistake” (the band deny this, naturally), throughout the record the Cure’s Robert Smith is the primary vocal influence.
Sam Endicott never sings where he could shriek and yelp like a misunderstood goth. “I wonder why, I never wonder why/The easiest things are so hard”, he moans on “Unconditional”. According to their biog, most of the lyrics were penned by the bequiffed singer whilst quite literally standing on a beach, staring at the sea (though no Arab killing was done – not by him anyway.)
If you’ve heard one song by The Bravery you’ve pretty much heard them all. The keyboard settings may change, as do the guitar FX pedals, but there’s a formula at work here and how much you get out of this record depends entirely on how interesting you find that formula.
Only once does the 80s onslaught relent. If someone told you “No Rings On These Fingers” was the new Strokes single you’d believe them, while accepting that The Strokes had gone a bit gay. This is how The Bravery sound shorn of the electronic whistles and bells. Deep down, it seems they’re no different from any other New York garage-punk band.
The nagging concern that’s hard to shake, throughout what is an eminently danceable and confident debut, is whether The Bravery are anything more than musical magpies who’ve been lucky enough to steal all the right influences at just the right time and whether there’s really anything of substance behind the make-up and the modernism.
