The album begins with an orchestral flourish in a Chicago bar, 'The Liar's Club', a place where the three Webb brothers used to while away the nights, weeks disappearing into months as they wasted away their lives in a drunken haze of pleasure. Fake? Transparent? It depends on where you're sitting.
"Don't give yourself away," they lament in perfect Scott Walker-esque harmony, "Or people will see that you're unhappy." Rarely has the pursuit of hedonism sounded so soulful.
The theme continues with the epic-sounding, poignant, brief love song, 'All The Cocaine In The World' a heartrending argument against drug abuse. "All the cocaine in the world can't bring back the girl," the brothers repeat over and over again, fading out into reflective silence.
Suddenly however, the brothers couldn't care less! The track that follows is the upbeat single 'Summer People' and hey! There's nothing wrong with the world, not when summer is here, doors are open and it's time to celebrate their youth and decadence all over again.
The feeling of joy is illusionary, though next track in is the depressive, sumptuous 'Low Grade Fever' and suddenly the downside of hedonism is all too painfully apparent. "I've got low grade fever," the boys sing with a to-die-for fervour, "and I don't think I've caught the flu."
Jesus. This isn't the sound of a lost weekend. This is the sound of a lost lifetime. That's enough impressionistic music criticism already. The second album from Christiaan and Justin, plus younger sibling James on second keyboards -the first was made on a budget of $5000 and sounded like it had been recorded by millionaires on a level with Fleetwood Mac- possesses a panoramic grandeur few artists ever achieve.
Across 13 tracks of painful intensity and singular beauty, The Webb Brothers play out their almost vaudeville themes of heartache, hedonism, betrayal and excess with mesmerising grace.
The instrumental 'Intermission' is the best track Morricone never recorded; 'Fluorescent Lights' reprises Teenage Fanclub's classic 'Bandwagonesque' with such class it's obvious that the bands have nothing in common and 'In A Fashion' could teach the Dandy Warhols several lessons about rock'n'roll exuberance.
This is a fantastic, almost mythical album. Rarely has hedonism sounded such fun.
