Working Men’s Club

Working Men's Club started out making music heavily influenced by jittery post-punk and new wave, but after a sea change and some lineup adjustments, they re-emerged as a jittery post-punk-influenced synth rock band. The band's leader, Sydney Minsky-Sargeant, wanted to make music that was more suited for dancing and more reflective of his love of techno, and their self-titled debut album certainly does that. The record is decked out in vintage synths, rippling 808 sequencers, thudding drum machines, rubbery synth bass lines, and grooves that split the difference between Inner City and the Human League. On top of the happily retro sounds, Minsky-Sargeant balances abrasive lyrics, detached vocal deliveries, and hypnotic melodies. A great deal of the album is reminiscent of other eras: the opening "Valleys" conjures up the moment in the late '80s when rock bands began to discover acid house, "Outside" has the hazy pop feel of mid-period New Order, and "Be My Guest" manages to call to mind the Fall thanks to Minsky-Sargeant's drawled vocals and the sprawling, overloaded guitars. Not all the songs look so far to the past for inspiration; quite a few of them date back to the dance-punk explosion of the 2000s. "John Cooper Clarke" marries a loose funk groove with the kind of melancholy melody James Murphy adds to many of LCD Soundsystem's songs, "Cook a Coffee" displays the sonic overload and hostile lyrics of Primal Scream circa XTRMNTR, while "Teeth" has the limber disco-meets-metallic punk feel of any number of DFA-affiliated bands. The group have certainly done their homework, and unfortunately the album has the feel of an academic exercise. It's a pleasantly nostalgic assignment at times, but far too frequently the band fail to break out of the tight, self-imposed musical parameters. On the few occasions that they do loosen up and explore new(ish) ground -- like on the epic-length album closer, "Angel," which sets up a monster groove then explodes it in a shower of distorted guitars, only to rebuild it into a raging rocker -- they show some promising glimmers of originality. The rest of the time, there's little reason to listen to this album instead of something by one of the bands they so obviously admire. It's clear that Working Men's Club are talented and there are a couple songs here that work as singles, but in the future they need to discover their own sound and let go of their tight grip on the past, both distant and recent. ~ Tim Sendra