Termites tedious tinkering fails to impress.
Carrot-crunching Bristolians Termites offer us the follow up to their previous EP 'Set Yourself On Fire'. 'Less Is More' was recorded at the infamous Rockfield Studios with producer Bruno Ellington, and is a diverse arrangement of mindless, whacky, art pop rock.
Title track 'Less Is More' comprises of a Hives-esque riff with a siren sounding seconding second guitar and catchy vocals. Technically it's nothing new or ground breaking, however compared to the other tracks it's the most accessible, and most likely the only one that would be chart-bound. There is the beautiful sound of a piano and then a harmonica to next song, 'Lighten The Load'. It's an acoustic gem that sounds like The Stands, with a very 60's influence about it. After a few listens I will guarantee that you will be humming or whistling it!
'I Stand Alone' starts the decline with a song that isn't really anything of note. The music isn't bad but the lyrics and vocals sound very amateur and make the song come off like a filler or a demo recording. It's only two minutes long, so for that we are thankful. Last song, 'Boltgun (Unleaded)' is a remixed version from their previous EP, and isn't so much of an acoustic number as sounding like the band are messing around after band practise, and have inadvertently left the recording equipment on. At times the drums sound as though they are using wooden spoons and pot and pans. The chorus of, '...b-b-b-b-b-botlgun...' is about as thrilling as badger's beauty contest, and when the repeated lines of, '...avoid, avoid, avoid, avoid...' appear, quite frankly I couldn't agree more.
They are described as, '...leaders of a new wave of hard edged British psychedelia, their sound encompasses such musical reference points as Pixies, Supergrass and early Pink Floyd...', this I'm afraid is more in hope than fact, as I'm sure none of the aforementioned would like to think that they sound anything like this.
Okay, so the first two songs are bordering on average and there are signs that they can write and play something fairly decent, however I feel they need to stop trying to be different as this will ultimately be the thing that will kill them before they've even started. I'd wait for the album release, but this? Avoid, avoid, avoid...