MarineVille ~ Ready for the Dance

Oak Park Records

Q. What could be better than post-rock?
A. Post-rock with words of course... That's where Wellington band MarineVille fit in, though they're as much influenced by indigenous indie NZ bands as the big bad Americans.

"Ready for the Dance" is MarineVille's first album, and it's a great piece of work. The tracks work well together, showcasing a number of different sides to the band's sound. The opening track, Anke, begins with lush gentle guitar picking and low rumbling drums. The song, and then the album, builds up and breaks down repeatedly and gracefully. On the quiet tracks (like August and Hey Predator, where the vocals kick in after a six minute intro), innovative, none-standard arrangements and passionate vocals stop the songs from getting droopy and boring. On the other hand, tracks like Zero Pilot on the Ground (think Tanker-era Bailter Space), Bird (a claustrophobic little number with a hint of Xpressway) and the propulsive closer Yoko Ono (N.Y. skyline, he he) show a louder noisier atonal feedbacky side to the band.

Star of the show is vocalist/guitarist Mark Williams, who (thankfully) loves the sound of language and the sound of electric guitars in equal measure. After a few listens the quality and catchiness of the songs reveals itself. His delivery is great, ranging from world-weary to awestruck to intimate to declamatory over the course of the nine-tracks, but he's always literate and emotional.

The standout tracks for me are the ones with the biggest hooks — Ghost of Bobby Forster with its muted trumpet, and Lazy Eye (and Th' Junkie Slip), where a delicate phased guitar intro builds into an irresistible guitar driven release like a lost track off Sonic Youth's "Dirty".

POSTED BY Mark ON 01 April 2002