The pendulum swings from sincere to artificial very quickly on The Rank Deluxe’ debut full-length disc, You Decide. It’s a queasy mixture of heyday Britpop, reggae, punk and rock’n’roll bravado. The UK quartet would call it “sewage†(seriously, it’s a self-penned descriptor), an egregious label if ever there was one! Why someone would freely choose to call their music sewage is beyond me, but perhaps it hints at a certain cynicism which is intimated occasionally throughout the album’s eleven tracks.
Sometimes their ragtag style works. The gossamer pop rock of “Innocence’ and subtle unhinged aggression of “Straight Jacket’s suits the band more comfortably than the contrived working class vocals on “Rapid Eye’; its syncopated guitar chords and back beat drums are part Franz Ferdinand, part Clash balled up into a languid and forgettable tune.
In an attempt to create their own identity by combining different forms of punk – post-punk, reggae punk and plain ol’ punk – The Rank Deluxe just end up sounding like a pastiche of their musical heroes. Though there are commendable efforts scattered throughout the album – the party boy frivolity of “They Don’ Matter’ and the simplistic “Tightrope’ which is prime for a hand clap refrain – You Decide falls short of creating any meaningful lasting impression. Its omnipresent “whoa-oh’ are better left in the pub for football hooligans to sing along to.
Dom Alessio
