Chapel Club - Palace

Wären andere Bands den gleichen Weg gegangen wie Chapel Club, so hieße das Debütalbum von Oasis "The Rain" und nicht "Definitely Maybe", oder der Erstling von Blur trüge anstatt "Leisure" den Namen "Seymour" .
Denn "Palace" war der erste Bandnamen, den sich Lewis Bowman, Michael Hibbert, Liam Arklie, Alex Parry und Rich Mitchell gaben, und wenn das Londoner Quintett konsequent bleibt, so wird deren zweite Platte den Titel "Golden Age" tragen.

Nach dem kurzen instrumentalen Opener "Depths" folgt "Surfacing", das sich den Text von "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" entleiht und gleich aufzeigt, welchen Weg Chapel Club einschlagen (düsteren Indierock, mit einer Priese Shoegaze und New Wave) und welche Bands Pate gestanden haben dürften (chronologisch geordnet: Joy Division, Echo & The Bunnymen, Editors, Glasvegas, White Lies). Das anschließende "Five Trees" (und später "The Shore") orientiert sich am Gitarrensound von My Bloody Valentine, und mit Adorable ist es eine weitere Band von Creation Records, die mir beim Hören von "Palace" immer wieder in den Sinn kommt ("Blind", "All The Eastern Girls").
Das von Paul Epworth (Maximo Park, Bloc Party, The Big Pink) produzierte Album ist das erste Indierock-Highlight des Jahres 2011, nicht obwohl, sondern gerade weil es so viele gute Bands zitiert.

"Surfacing" Video

We're gently ushered in to their debut, 'Palace', by 'Depths', an instrumental intro track that recalls one of the Stone Roses' backwards excursions. 'Surfacing', with its lyrical riff on 'Dream A Little Dream Of Me' (the press release is oh-so-keen to inform us that the band will lose out on royalties for this) and rearing guitars recalls a tethered and tamed Glasvegas (as does 'White Knight Position'), and elsewhere, there's hints of an angsty gaucheness that explains the way they've been lumped into the same landfill as White Lies, Editors et al. But in truth Chapel Club aim for a sonic palette less extreme than many mainstream peers, blurring the monochrome of the 80s into the softer dreampop shades of the early 90s. Not for them a poor man's Numan or Curtis; the mellifluous and melancholic 'Five Trees' and particularly the wave-dandled and wistful ambience of 'The Shore' with its warping and warbling MBV guitar squiggles are more a Soup Kitchens Of Distinction. (...)

There are moments: 'Fine Lights'' dancing-dust-mote pretty Blue Nile-isms succeed in being genuinely absorbing (though the workaday racing riff it soon collapses into isn't one we'd put money on). 'Blind' though, threatens to be a KOL style chugging-and-howling release but somehow ends up at a polite meander, Bowman's voice is glowing, motionless, mannered. 'After The Flood''s whirring guitar lines recalls Editors' 'Munich', hammering away at the sturm-and-drang button, conjuring more dullage than deluge. Sadly, like the latter days of that lamentable band, Chapel Club have ended up neither fish nor fowl, neither ersatz enough to give a guilty steering-wheel-tapper thrill or genuinely brave enough to inspire. If they're not quite the 'Paper Thin' of the closing track, they're certainly not strong enough to rest your hopes on just yet.
(thequietus.com)

Chapel Club in Deutschland:

04.04.11 München, 59:1
12.04.11 Köln, Werkstatt
13.04.11 Berlin, Lido
19.04.11 Hamburg, Logo