Following on one of the most well received 16 minutes of music in recent history (2006's A Lesson In Crime EP), Newmarket Ontario's Tokyo Police Club will release a debut album entitled Elephant Shell, due out late April on Saddle Creek in North America and Memphis Industries in the UK.
Elephant Shell lands roughly a year and half after A Lesson In Crime (with last year's Smith EP and "Your English Is Good" digi-single and a ton of touring also bridging the gap) and barely four years from the band's 2005 formation. Not bad for four friends who learned to play during senior year in high school, later naming themselves for a nonsensical lyric from the song that would become track one on their first EP, which would in turn sell over 30,000 copies-probably about 29,000 more copies than they expected-and garner accolades from Entertainment Weekly ("We can hardly wait for the full length” A-), Rolling Stone ("If only all young guitar bands were smart enough to rock out this fast, banging out seven first-rate mod-punk party starters in barely more than sixteen minutes"), Interview, Blender, Nylon and The New York Times among others.
If bassist/vocalist David Monks once described the band's music as "wide-eyed post-punk with a tendency to get over excited-so much so that someone has to come and tell it to settle down," Elephant Shell is the sound of four early-20-somethings now seasoned through hundreds of shows from tiny clubs to the festival throngs at Coachella and Glastonbury, maturing a bit and learning to temper and modulate their own more varied musical moods. Or maybe Canada's socialized health care means easier access to generic Ritalin and Adderall?
Either way, Elephant Shell delivers on every bit of promise in Tokyo Police Club's rapid-fire barrage of material to date.
The opening one-two of "Centennial" and "In A Cave" barely evaporates before "Graves" and "Juno" pack innumerable hooks and "what-does-that-remind-me-of" glimmers into meager 2-minute-and-change frameworks, while "Tessellate" and "Sixties Remake" encapsulate everything great about the manic TPC live experience: soaring guitar signatures and keyboard figures, driving backbeats and irresistible singalongs abound. Elsewhere, "The Harrowing Adventures Of..." and the down tempo standout "Listen To The Math" find our young protagonists ably adapting their energy into more subdued structures before the rousing coda of "The Baskervilles" brings the record to an all-too-early halt.
Unsurprisingly, Tokyo Police Club is already back on the road at press time and will continue to be through the release of Elephant Shell.
With determination, you can accomplish quite a lot in under three minutes. In terms of Newmarket’s Tokyo Police Club, entire stories can be told in under three minutes and melodies can bob and weave through the confines of indie rock and post-punk revival without being hasty. On Elephant Shell, the Ontario group’s first LP, that’s just what they do.
With only one song clocking in over three minutes and a total runtime a smidgen under 28 minutes, Elephant Shell is one of the most succinct albums of the year and matches with REM’s Accelerate for depth through concision. The music is intricate and yet carries an unfussiness that creates melodies that are utterly hummable and alluring.
The bar was set pretty high after the critically-acclaimed Lesson in Crime EP, as its quick introduction to the band tore through 16-minutes of blazing guitar-riff heaven. In danger of perhaps being too to the point, Tokyo Police Club waited a year and a half before finally dropping Elephant Shell last month. The wait was worth it.
One of the things instantly apparent is how frontman David Monks has expanded on the themes in Lesson in Crime and tears a slightly Decemberists-quality swath through Elephant Shell. The lyrics are strong, painting elegant word pictures that sail over the band’s pensive pop surroundings with ease. Monks’ lyrics are genuine, yet filled with a sense of gloom and desolation at times. Always eloquent, one can get a deep sense of insight with his simple phrases.
Songs begin suddenly and end just as abruptly, such as the album’s first track, “Centennial.” As though setting the bar for short, effective anthems, “Centennial” works as an overture and as a sign of things to come.
Other songs pour brilliantly into small spaces, like the graceful “Tessellate” with its spirited lyrics and clap-along tempo. Monks’ description of “all the kids who cut their knees on that old schoolyard fence” calls upon grey-skied memories and tickles of rebellion.
Monks and Co. deliver songs with mental clarity, unfolding pictures and dusty memories with a simple swoop of phraseology or an elegant flourish of guitar and keyboard. Songs like “Sixties Remake” and the bouncy “Your English is Good” showcase the group’s conciseness, as tight bass lines play with sharp rhythm and background vocals to create immediate poppy sticks of musical dynamite.
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