Guitar music is dead. According to the endless 2011 retrospectives from the British press, and hysterical reports of dwindling guitar band sales figures, the humble six string is no more, heartlessly bludgeoned by Adele’s ailing vocal chords and Rihanna’s gyrate’n’b. Sure, similar horror stories have been reported on a yearly basis since Numan got all frisky with a Moog, but this time it’s for real and indefinite. Put down your Anna Calvi debut, safely dispose of your Vaccines LP, it might be catching.
Shame that no one told Howler then. This jerky bundle of edgy haired Minnesotans are hotly tipped for 2012, and play *gasp* full throttle, unashamed guitar rock. America Give It Up is packed with short, sharp, punchy numbers dominated by prominent guitars and even a couple of nifty guitar breaks. And it’s really rather good.
The closest recent reference point would probably be the pithy, surf influenced rock of The Vaccines, but Jordan Gatesmith’s lead vocals are mercifully free of Justin Young’s irksome vocal mannerisms, and the overall sound is grubbier, as much Iggy Pop as The Atlantics. This debut album also boasts some rather blistering melodies, such as likable single ‘I Told You Once’ with its irresistible half chanted chorus, and the charming ‘This Ones Different’, a fitting tribute to impatient adolescent yearning . They’re also not above an eye-watering pun (‘Pythagoran Fearum’ anyone?), and although the slower likes of ‘Too Much Blood’ lack the impact of perkier numbers, this is a guiltless feel good album, solid guitar rock played with verve and conviction.
Ignore what some overheated members of the music press are saying, Howler are not the new Strokes. For all the debt Casablancas owed to 70s Garage Rock, Is This It encapsulated a freshness that pretty much singlehandedly unblocked the congested airways of the Brit-pop dominated early noughties charts. America Give It Up is derivative, with Gatesmith’s distorted vocal clearly recalling The Strokes themselves; imitation does not a worthy successor make. This album doesn’t feel especially progressive or massively original, but it is a lot of fun and firmly positions Howler as a new band worth keeping an eye on and a worthy live pick.
Not bad for the deceased. Guitar music is dead; long live guitar music.