By linking up with Steve Albini, Dave Gedge is deliberately linking his modern incarnation of The Wedding Present with the ferocious four piece that released Seamonsters back in the 1990s. Back then, Albini took the energetic indie-rockers and converted them into an unsettlingly powerful outfit, with Gedge’s small-town tales of love and loss transformed into something quite sinister by Albini’s angular production.
The same trick doesn’t really work twice: The Wedding Present in 2008 don’t have the same edge, and Albini’s lackadaisical attitude to vocals often leaves Gedge’s voice exposed and drab. Yet aside from the nostalgia of hearing those tiny narratives of desire weathered by age and bitter experience, The Wedding Present somehow demonstrate how to fuse wit and wisdom wit poppy hooks and rocking interludes.
Often, the magic is throw-away and incidental: the introduction to ‘Santa Ana Winds’ is menacing and confident, while ‘Soup’s coda is a blistering cock-rock pastiche. Finale ‘Swingers’ hands Gedge’s lyric to a female voice, effectively undercutting the apparent misogyny that lurks in his love songs. And the trenchant observations and pop-culture references bring a happy smile of recognition.
As obvious antecedents of The Arctic Monkeys or any other band that foreground their regional identity, it seems only fair that The Wedding Present have stayed around long enough to gain some respect. On the other hand, it is a bit disconcerting to hear that Gedge appears to have learnt nothing in the past twenty years: relationships are still messing up, and he still responds with the same angst rock. ‘Model, Actress, Whatever’ is more uncomfortable- suggesting an internet obsession and contempt- while the low self-esteem reaches pathological levels.
A satisfying album, but dated and limited: when the band hit it, they rock harder than anyone outside of the metal scene, and their confidence in the quieter moments is evocative and sinister. Sadly, the transitions are blunt and coarse, and Albini’s production- usually energising and thrillingly rough - never lifts them into the stratosphere.
//Gareth Vile