Clever clever.
The Motion Sick. Theres a band name for you. Hailing from Boston, you’re immediately made to think that this band carries a sense of literary prose about them and have a better sense of cultural being about them. They’re not called The Shaggers or The Twang, theres every chance that this band have read a book or two in their time and they may have something to say. The next problem is that sometimes you get bands that are clever and have a decent vocabulary but just don’t have anything worth saying. As the album is titled ‘The Truth Will Catch You, Just Wait…’ we can only sit back and see what truth is told about the bands level of intelligence and social outlook.
The lyrics are all a touch clever, a bit tongue in cheek and portray the sense of “we’re great guys really, please like us.” This is best shown on ‘Walk On Water’ which lists feats the singer can perform that on first listen sound impressive but then the twist comes in with an explanation of how they can really perform this tricks and shazaam, the listener will sit dumbfounded with the clever wordplay that tricked them in the first place.
And this is the feeling that carries throughout the record, it all just seems a bit too polished, as though it is all for effect and for everyone to realise how great this band really is but it just doesn’t sit right. There are moments where it comes together and these are enjoyable. ’30 Lives’ is a polite blast, enlivened with the horn section and the closing shout of utilising a game cheat to gain extra lives shows that they aren’t humourless but after hearing a few tricks performed so well here, the following moments that are similar don’t fair as well.
A rather pointless cover version of Joy Divisions ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ features here and whilst at the live shows it will get a good reaction; it doesn’t have any real justification on the album. Its nowhere near as good as the original (it actually seems more foolish to have tried as opposed to have tried and failed) and sharply reminds you of what the band lacks in comparison to a band fully deserving of legendary status. With this and a dance remix of ’30 Lives’, which evokes ‘Together In Electric Dreams’ by Moroder and that bloke from the Human League, closing the album, its almost as if the band lacked the belief to finish themselves and instead roped in a few favours to add some punch to the record.
Also, without these two songs, the album clocks in at less than half an hour and seems very light and insubstantial. Ironically enough, the song before these two ‘Some Lonely Day’ is one of the strongest on the record. It has a ringing guitar and a dark heart and manages to sound like a good-era Idlewild (also known as third level REM)
Its not a bad record and lets be honest, this is the writer who cant stand The Hold Steady so perhaps clever American indie-rock isn’t the best genre to take this advice on but it just seems to lack a killer edge to make this an vital record.