The Smoke – Blood Orange – MGM/Green – March 14 2009
If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like if The White Stripes were Australian, wonder no more – Melbourne five-piece The Smoke are pretty much exactly the same band.
Their debut album Blood Orange adopts a DIY garage-punk ethos and delivers thirteen songs that are solid, sure, but lack any real originality. Everything from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs-esque cover art, to singer Dane Robertson’s Jack White-tastic drawl coupled with a simple three-chord progression in the aptly-titled opener ‘Good Morning Jack’, suggests that The Smoke are a band that have absorbed their influences to an extent where they become them – to both their benefit and detriment.
There are a couple of great moments on this record – first single ‘Defeat Retreat’ features an Aussie accented gang vocal heavy chorus perfectly suited to the mainstream airwaves, while ‘Baby’s Got The Shakes’ and ‘Cut the Brakes’ both adopt a Springsteen flavour of infectious country rock, complete with rollicking guitars and handclapping choruses. The poignant ‘Night Flight’ is the album’s only taste of semi-acoustic introspection, with both strummed and fingerpicked electric guitars gently underscoring Robertson’s subdued vocals.
The problem with these songs, though, is not that they’re not well composed or well executed, but rather that they don’t offer anything new. Obviously the formula works, as it has worked for countless bands before, but that’s precisely the issue – it makes them blend in.
Before the album’s minute-long instrumental close, Robertson muses, “I’m just a boy chasing a dream of fascination, lust, love and everything in between”.
That dream should continue to be chased, but with a stronger unique vision – Blood Orange will please fans of the genre, but may leave those hoping for some home grown innovation thirsting for something more.
DOWNLOAD: Defeat Retreat (m4a)
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