Singles

The Electric City - Sleeping With The Enemy

Bruce Turnbull 02/07/2007

Rating: 4/5

A well worn style by now, surely, the modicum of tolerance I had for bands like the Arctic Monkeys has well and truly been stripped away by the terror of a perpetual cycle of facsimiles pilfering each and every nuance of each and every band that attempted to imitate it first. Thankfully, and I'm not too sure if The Electric City know this; these guys extricate themselves from that whole quagmire of triviality by peppering their sound with a voice so old school it could have been drafted straight out of the 80s, and an approach that owes as much to the Backyard Babies and Sign as it does to the aforementioned Monkeys.

Really, young upstarts The Electric City sound very little like anything knocking about at the moment, and in fact their debut three track is a comforting eye opener. Lead track “Sleeping with the Enemy” is possibly the strongest attempt, with a stomping chorus and a raspy vocal performance from singer/guitarist Andy J Taylor, yet I found their title track “Electric City” the most accessible, with a fast, anthemic riff that Franz Ferdinand will soon wish they had come up with first. Sweeter than a jam and Girls Aloud sandwich, the cheeky alt-rock lightning bolt of guitars that attack the listener with “Devil In My Head” is an absolutely delight that once again shows how far the band have planted their feet in old school soil, with their upper torsos just peeking over the top to strum their guitars in the new world.

A tight performance brought out through a slick production job, “Sleeping with the Enemy” is a worthy addition to anyone's collection, especially for fans of anthemic modern rock, but also for those who find today's stream of cookie-cutter indie wannabes as frustrating as I do.