Archie Bronson Outfit, London Lexington

January 27, 2010

After a wait of almost four years since the release of their last album, Derdang Derdang, it’s good to be able to report that the Archie Bronson Outfit haven’t subjected themselves to the whimsies of stylists in the fields of either music or fashion while putting together their new LP. The beards are still there, they still shun the need for roadies by doing their own pre-set tuning, and while they may have recruited a synth-player, rest assured they haven’t gone all ’80s on us.

In fact, on the evidence of tonight’s set upstairs at the Lexington, they have instead taken the approach of adopting a much heavier sound in their new material. At times, especially during the brass-accompanied opener ‘You Have A Right To A Mountain Life/One Up On Yourself’ and the frenetic dance-of-death jig that is ‘Magnetic Warrior’, the driving bass and the thunderous drums sound as if they could feature on a Metallica album. However, Sam Windett’s typically high, frantic and thrillingly unstable-sounding vocals, atop his edgy guitar riffs, somehow keep things just about melodic enough that you still feel you want to groove to their psychedelic trysts rather than mosh.

Yet of the new songs – and only two of the 11 they play, ‘Kink ‘and ‘Got To Get (Your Eyes)’, are old ones – it sounds as if one of their few slower efforts could end up being the best of the lot. The Michael Stipe-esque vocal melody of ‘Bite It & Believe It’ proves so haunting that even days after a single three or four minute-long exposure, it still seems to be echoing around one’s inner-ear.

In short – and it’s a pleasure to be able to say this – it seems as if Coconut, due to be released on March 1, really may be something special.