There’s a faction of post-punk that could be described as being church
back-benchers. The epic cathartic sound of post-punk has been taken apart piece
by piece and stuck together with different genres like lo-fi, synth pop, and
more recently... Soft rock. Post-punk is a genre designed for glitz glamour,
and gritty manner. Combining the soft rock antithesis of Coldplay and the punk
sounds of 90s independent American rock creates one band: White Lies.
They've twisted and turned to sound original, and funnily enough, they do sound
somewhat original to an extent. Their big sounding debut To Lose My Life
included some of 2008s best loved indie anthems. The majestic title track
"To Lose My Life" and fan favourite "Death". White Lies
continued to battle through genre distinction with 2011's Ritual. It was
a mess, even Alan Moulder put his name towards Ritual and it still came
out the wrong way. All this post-punk revival nonsense was over before White
Lies had even begun their debut, so there was no surprise when the fans,
critics, and buyers dropped post-Ritual.
White Lies have a comeback single in the midst, "There Goes Our Love Again". Its instrumental is comparable to anything from Glasvegas' discography,
and the vocal: Faris Badwan. They've stayed true to their history, making big
sounds with small instruments for fans of the above. If "There Goes Our
Love Again" is anything to go by, then it suggests a new reckoning of
sound, without a niche, but with a pop tag stuck right on their foreheads.
The bands third studio album Big TV has been produced
by Ed Buller (Suede, Spiritualized). You'll have to wait and see if it
sounds like a typical post-britpop mash-up of shoegaze and post-punk like To Lose My Life, or a pop
filled burn out like Ritual.
~Eddie
