Simon Dawes' Carnivore comes across as just another
American band trying to be British... or maybe British Columbia, a
lá Hot Hot Heat. Which isn't to say anything bad, necessarily.
They're just white noise in today's music scene.
Slightly more beat-driven than your average Britpop-wannabe band,
two of the more listenable tracks on Carnivore are "Save
Your Ticket" and "Salute The Institution," both intending
to someday become riot-inducing tracks. But, like Pinochio,
Simon Dawes is yet to become a real boy. Both songs fall flat on their
faces before being given a chance to fully develop. Still, the tracks
are unbaked cookie dough - still good, just not quite done.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, flee (and I mean flee) from
"Lazy Daisy," a song that blatantly ignores the laws of
originality, instead choosing to adopt an acoustic We Are Scientists
aura. Unfortunately, We Are Scientists are a bit too much for Simon
Dawes to live up to. And the "La daw daw dah" drunken refrain
becomes tiresome in an extremely short amount of time.
Clever but circular songwriting does little to separate Simon Dawes'
Carnivore from most any band on the market right now. There's
nothing really wrong with the album, but there's equally as little
that's perfectly right as well. Whether you can dance to it or not,
Simon Dawes' Carnivore could be just as easily replaced in
your iPod by The Lashes or The Subways. Or maybe you'll
be daring and actually go for a true English band. The Smiths
don't bite. Hard.
-Caitlin McGuire
Track Listing:
1. Save Your Ticket
2. The Awful Things
3. Salute The Institution
4. All Her Crooked Ways
5. Got A Light?
6. Lazy Daisy
7. Have A Heart
8. Maybe Not Today
9. Every Single Time
10. Behind The Bleachers
11. Be There Right Now
12. Execution Song
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