Various Artists - The Mules Present....Pick Your Own (Album)
In 1997, an article was published in the journal of Popular Music and Society which discussed the term ‘Englishness’ as it had been applied to pop musicians over time in England and surrounding Great Britain. The article included a quote from a Blur era Damon Albarn saying that if you drew a line from The Kinks to The Jam and The Smiths and then Blur, it would define this thing they call ‘Englishness’ better than anything.
10 years on from this article, if you were to extend the line further we would see it crossing through the hoards of English indie bands which have risen to prominence in the last few years. Bands like The Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party and Reverend and the Makers immediately come to mind.Whether this is an actual extension of the line or just a complete return to the sounds of the ‘the’ bands of the 60s and 70s is up for debate, but this is no space for preaching cynical post modern bullshit so we shan’t go down that path.
Anyway, what this awfully long winded introduction has to do with ‘Pick Your Own’, a compilation put together by up and comers The Mules (thanks Google search engine) is that the album is the epitome of ‘Englishness’ in the late noughties (I apoligise for using this cringe worthy term). It is packed with quirky, catchy and likeable ‘go grab yourself a warm beer’ tracks.
There’s always a familiarity with British indie music: you know you definitely haven’t heard it before but then you’re sure you have and this is the feeling that each of the 14 tracks leaves you with. At the same time as being familiar the tracks sounds totally fresh, all coming from ‘the cream of London’s young musicians circa summer 2007’ as is stated on the inside sleeve of the album.
It is a diverse mix of music: one moment you feel as if you’re in the middle of a traveling circus in amongst gypsies and countrymen wearing tights and the next you feel like you’re in a dingy English pub in the 60’s. One element that does present consistently on the album though is the use of classical instruments, whether this is just because The Mules themselves use violin in their band and so hang out with similar thinking bands or if this is the direction the sound is going is unknown but it works well where it is present and it will be interesting to see if it does indeed become ‘the’ sound.
While the whole album is hard to stop listening to once you start, there are a few tracks which make you glance over to the cd player to see what number it is: A Child Lost In Tesco by Eugene McGuinness, Low Rider by Son Of Dave (reminded me of Architecture in Helsinki), This is My Call To Arms by Napoleon 3rd and Echo’s Swing by Fireworks Night (very Radiohead like.. liked this song a lot).
As for the track by The Mules, it is an extremely accessible indie song that sounds a bit like the Kaiser Chiefs but doesn’t quite present itself as a defining track for the band, there is definitely a lot better that can come from these guys. Love or hate this type of music it is undeniably catchy and it can be confidently said that at least 1 of the 14 bands featured on the compilation will become a household name in the coming years.
