I was up one night watching a wrestling special – NXT Takeover to be precise. The official theme for that event was a track from a British band I was not familiar with. “Pretty cool” I thought to myself; an upstart act getting such large exposure (wrestling fan or not, you cannot deny that there are fervent eyes on the product as of late) and the song itself was quite a bouncy little number.
“I hate Paramore” uttered the chap to the right of me. “It’s not Paramore” I responded. “Well it’s some kind of Paramore shit” was his retort.
It’s frustrating in that fact that Bingley’s Marmozets are being written off from the outset as some kind of pastiche of Paramore. There is some base to the comparisons but it’s a lazy comparison; both bands have a strong, very dominant female lead singer. Sonically there are some similarities but that’s like saying Chris Hemsworth and myself are one in the same because we both have a pair of eyes on our face.
Needless to say, Marmozets are the heavier of the two – not Rolo Tomassi heavy but there is a lot more venom fluid in Marmozets’ latest album, Knowing What You Know Now, compared to the aforementioned comparison. Kicking off with “Play”, the bouncy number that caught not just mine but everyone’s attention at the viewing party, the opening numbers of the album serve as a happy-go-lucky slice of angst. The kind of “I’m pretty annoyed but I’ll get over it “ anger shared more so on “Meant To Be”, with Rebecca’s vocals hitting full flight at points.
The strength of the album however is the underlying enmity that peaks it’s head above the surface throughout. “Insomnia” bears a haunting synergy between vocals and downtempo melody and even the somewhat upbeat “Start Again” manages to spin the euphoric alternative rock trope of minor loud-major quiet-minor loud into something more palatable for those who grew up and got a touch bored with that formula.
Knowing What You Know Now could almost be the band’s mantra going forwards after this release; clearly they have a knack not only for writing catchy tracks (that much is a given) but they also have managed to craft a pace on the album that flows naturally for the listener. Perhaps working with celebrated producer Gil Norton, who previously worked with both Foo Fighters and Pixies, helped hone the tracklisting into what has been presented in the final product. But it’s little touches like this that will serve the band well down the line.
It’s an exciting time to be a fan of the group – consider me a fan of the band now. Even the somewhat quasi-Sara Bareille’s “Like A Battery” can be forgiven can be excused.
