World Leader Pretend - Punches

World Leader Pretend
Punches

I must say that I knew nothing of the band World Leader Pretend even before I received their most recent CD “Punches”. And the funny thing is that I feel like I know even LESS about the band after listening through it a couple times. Let me tell you that this band and their music is just completely wild. If ever there was a case of multiple personalities in a band, this is it.

Even more strange is that the CD is released on a major label -Warner to be exact. I’m not sure how that happened, but good for World Leader Pretend I guess! Their songs are just so off-kiltre and wacky at times. I don’t mean that they are totally goofing off. It’s just that the style of the songs change with a frequency that’s likely to make your head spin. I think that Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse, Warner is pretty much content to just let them run with whatever ideas they have… at least for the time being.

Strangely, I find that lead singer Keith Ferguson reminds me the most of … BONO. Yes, Bono of all people. I saw a few others had noticed this similarity too. Can’t remember the last time I mentioned Bono in a review…

Let me tell you, the kitchen sink that World Leader Pretend is playing around with is just so vast. “Bang Theory” has this strange loungey texture backed up with a sound that reminds me of The Verve. The sweet-finger picking of “Lovey Dovey” sounds very much like the orchestral maneuvers of Badly Drawn Boy, while the title track “Punches” comes across like The Strokes.

There’s this amazing distortion and howling building up toward the ending in “The Masses”. The instrumental song “Appassionato” sounds like the soundtrack to a Christmas TV drama, though quite nice and relaxing actually. Then “B.A.D.A.B.O.O.M” slams through sounding like an outtake from The Fall or early Pavement. What in the world? “Into Thin Air” could possibly, just maybe be a cousin of a song that Beck wrote for Sea Change. Just maybe. “A Grammarian Stuck in A Medical Drama” has some guitar chucks in the chorus that remind me of the Edge. I can see why fans who don’t know much about indie music pick U2 to compare them to.

You know what, I’ve got to listen to this album at least a couple more times to come in with a full verdict. But so far, I’m pleasantly surprised at being constantly surprised.

by Palebear