Wildlife: New Album From The Lovely Eggs

Hayley Scott reviews The Lovely Eggs new album, Wildlife …

The Lovely Eggs are a duo from Lancaster who aren’t shy of amplifying their provincial roots. I say this because Holly and David make simplistic, bare-boned punk music carried by observational, often surrealistic lyricism and vocals that are about as northern as an evening in with Jack Duckworth (rip) watching Kes.

This is quite an endearing aspect that consumes the forthcoming 18 track album Wildlife, although I can imagine it running the risk of wearing a bit thin with listeners who aren’t partial to a bit of impudent Lancastrian punk; mainly because it’s such a lengthy album, which perhaps makes it more difficult to maintain the momentum that acquaints you at the start. Having said that, the tracks are appropriately arranged in short and snappy bursts, which always carries this kind of music well.

If you’re more inclined to extol the virtues of no-frills, often facetious punk music then you will probably appreciate Wildlife as a collection of charming and chaotically catchy gems that would sit comfortably in and amongst a plethora of wonderful obscurities hailing from the north. The album is also sporadically interrupted by brief spoken interludes that accentuates the DIY tone of the record. Of course, they aren’t really necessary, but you get the feeling that the couple couldn’t care less, which also means they manage to carry it off with feckless skill.

There’s influences taken from a variety of genres throughout this album: where ‘I Just Want Someone To Fall in Love With’ is unabashedly tame punk, ‘Lee Mellon’s Teeth’ is a heady measure of well-executed grunge. The Lovely Eggs punk status is probably based on their evidently underground ethos and boundary-less music ethic, but Wildlife also navigates a path towards something a little less belligerent. Amongst the abundance of fleeting and frantic numbers like ‘The Undertone’ and ‘Scooter‘s Got Itchy‘, in which Holly clamours and shrieks boisterously over thrashy guitar, we hear occasional snippets of something slightly more placid in songs like ‘Just Wont Do It’ and closer ‘The Castle’ where Holly opts for vocals that highlight a twee naivety in comparison to some of the other more raucous efforts on Wildlife.

Yet despite this, the consistent fuzzy drone of David’s guitar keeps it from straying too far from their punk tendencies, therefore The Lovely Eggs remain shamelessly un-profound, and with that Wildlife is a perfect dose of brilliantly blithe punk rock that is not to be taken too seriously.

Wildlife is due for release on 26th November 2012

The Lovely Eggs will also be playing at Wharf Chambers in Leeds on Thursday 29th November.

www.thelovelyeggs.co.uk/

soundcloud.com/thelovelyeggs