Frantic drumming, a bass guitar wheezing as it chases a treble-heavy guitar, more ideas in a three minute song that most bands manage in a career and lyrics that weave between self-conscious obscurity and detail-obsessed poetry: it must be Tokyo Police Club.
Elephant Shell shakes up a fairly predictable set of influences and still sounds distinctive. Echoes of the new wave- the clunking bass is very Joy Division, the guitars are Sonic Youth re-imagined with less distortion- fade across the usual stories of ill-defined melancholy. Lead single Tessellate is a brave stab at perfect pop – rapid, softly distressing and boasting an exquisitely allusive chorus. Other tracks may be less focussed- sometimes the shouted choruses tend to thuggishness or the keyboards sound hurried- and there is no great move on from the previous EP. Yet TPC have charm and energy- propelled along by the desperate sense that every song could be their last, their ideas collide in rush to express sheer desire.
In a short time, Tokyo Police Club make the case for a re-invention of punk energy- more playful than the original, less asinine than the plastic versions that hit the 1990s- with a wistful romanticism and propulsive synth stabs. Heart-felt and bruised, introverted yet not obscure: Elephant Shell is a clear consolidation of their early promise.