Mon Electric Bijou
"Bullets in the Penguin" CD
Roast Records
Genre: indie rock
June 2006 |
Indie rock with a rootsy flair out of Montreal,
what's there not to like? This is polished, melodic stuff that's very
solid albeit unspectacular. "In Her Purse" and "Caveman" succeed by
way of dark, infectious melodies, like a less aggressive Archers Of
Loaf - particularly in the guitar. On the other hand, we have a
number of ballads that Mon Electric Bijou have included;
country-ish "El Shoeless Messiah" and "Surveillance Camera" represent
this front, among others. Over the course of this twelve song record,
the music can drag quite a bit - the songs aren't varied enough, and
their sound isn't unique enough to make that irrelevant. The main
problem is the album's lack of energy - by the end, you've lost some
of your attention because the guitars have started to plod a little,
and the vocals don't carry the type of punch one might hope for.
Regardless, there is more than enough good stuff to go on here, and
for an occasional, satisfying rock record, Bullets in the Penguin
suffices admirably.
MP3s (from monelectricbijou.com):
Paris At Night,
In
Her Purse,
Quicksand
75%
Fun Fact: "Mon
Electric Bijou" means "my electric jewel" in French, though "electric"
is not a French word.
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 12 tracks, distributed by
Sonic Unyon,
released 2005] |