The Escape Club - White Fields (Revisited)


I went a tad overboard on this year's gift card depletion plan, so i have a ridiculous number of records scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Tonight i just want to hear something fun. Let's revisit The Escape Club. 

I can't help it that everyone only remembers Wild Wild West from their second album, but their first album White Fields is fantastic. Depending on which side of the street you walk on, the video for that big hit is either embarassingly hilarious or total cringe, but this first album is hard to pin down. Some say it's Pop Rock, but that implies that this is in some way mainstream. Some people more accurately say this is first-wave Alternative Rock, but i don't like that at all. As crazy as it may sound, this is actually the Gin Blossoms of Post-Punk. A bit New Wave, a touch of Goth, very forward bass grooves, and some Power Pop for good measure. Yes it's Pop Rock, but it actually rocks. I think you'll be surprised at how much not like Wild Wild West every song except Blood & Water sounds. But even that has way more of an INXS vibe to it than anything. It's extremely 80s, but not any of the actual mainstream 80s. Yeah, if you could combine The Cure, David Bowie, Tears For Fears, and Simple Minds into one coherent supergroup, this is exactly what you'd get. Actually, i don't think there's a synth anywhere near this album. A couple string arrangements and i think i heard a horn and a piano in various places, but mostly it's all killer bass lines, crunchy jangly guitar chords, every pedal they could find in the effects closet, and great melodies. 

Concept wise, White Fields is very clearly a metaphor for the world passing you by and sweeping away life as you knew it. It's an album of leaving, moving on, losing the past for a future that ironically never arrives. Real downer of an album, just the way i like it. Compared to some of the seriously hardcore pessimism in our near listening future though, this is just shy of being upbeat, so enjoy it while it lasts. 

Seriously though, there's a lot of crazy stuff barreling toward us on a brown truck, so helmets at the ready.

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