They have a keen grip on the kind of melodies you're supposed
to call 'angular' and the vital slightly dischordant approach to music.
They also rock like a beast, and the five-minute-or-so 'Routine' skids
between Pixies-but-louder riffing pop to Slintesque quiet, and back again.
The production on the record sets the guitars and the vocals into competition
with each other, so that while you can't always hear what Seb Carey is
singing, it still sounds ace.
Despite being a 'new' band, Caretaker have confidence
to scream, as 'Hidden Agenda' testifies. In fact Caretaker don't sound
like a 'new' band, they sound like they know what they're doing, and while
the obviously don't give a fuck about 3 minute conventional songs, songs
like 'Safe As Houses' have a better understanding about music than any
pop rock group you might find in the charts these days.
It's not all about the guitars, of course. Once you've
listened to the record a bit and can begin to pick out the words, lyrics
which seem initially very sparse gain importance. 'Red Mist' manages to
condense teenage anger into a few sentences. One of the best things about
Caretaker is that they know when to shut up, and lack the ingredient which
can ruin so many bands, the egotistical vocalist. Instead Caretaker know
when to let the instruments alone, with musical hooks equally powerful
as the lyrical ones.
It's true this record isn't as good as, say, Seafood or
Urusei Yatsura, because this is only a first EP and not a full album. But
Caretaker a far from another Sonic Youth rip-off. With time I'm betting
they could easily become Britain's own ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail
Of Dead.
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