The Ramona Flowers - Dismantle And Rebuild

Die erste Vorladung (VIII)

Personalien:

Hinter der in Bristol residierenden Band The Ramona Flowers stecken Steve Bird (Gesang), Sam James (Gitarre), Wayne Jones (Bass), Dave Betts (Keyboards, Gitarre) und Ed Gallmore (Schlagzeug). 

Tathergang:

Die Band benannte sich nach einem Charakter aus dem Film "Scott Pilgrim vs The World" und nahm ihr Debütalbum unter Anleitung von Andy Barlow von Lamb  in den Distillery Studios in Bath auf. Dem Album, das den selben Titel trägt wie die erste EP aus dem Jahre 2012, gingen zudem die Singles "Brighter", "Lust And Lies" und "Tokyo" voraus, mittlerweile wurde auch "Vultures" ausgekoppelt.

Plädoyer:

The Ramona Flowers spielen Indierock mit elektronischen Hilfsmitteln, so dass sie sich in eine Reihe mit Bastille, The Killers, Hard-Fi oder, wer die Band noch kennt, Mansun stellen dürfen. 

Hinzu kommt mit Steve Bird ein Sänger, der über das Pathos von Bono, das Falsett von Thom Yorke und das - nennen wir es - "Geschmeidige" von Brandon Flowers verfügt. 

Das jazzige "So Many Colours" muss leider unter Totalausfall verbucht werden.

Zeugen:

Yet, while they play the type of made-for-arenas rock-electronica that Muse and Radiohead have made careers out of (the stadium-sized, prickly guitars of opener 'Tokyo' recall the former; singer Steve Bird's delicate falsetto on the title-track tries for the latter), there's something a little too ‘phone advert’ about it all to properly excite. The Bristol group recently toured with Bastille and it's these sanitised "indie" peers (Imagine Dragons, The 1975 et al) that 'Dismantle And Rebuild' sits most comfortably alongside. They'll probably be massive, then.
(NME)

Album opener Tokyo recalls ’90s outfit Mansun; a distorted electronic intro sounding like a malfunctioning hoverbike from Star Wars lurches into earshot before a stop/start electronica based effort furnished with atmospheric guitar strokes create a captivating effort bearing dark undertones. Another single Brighter follows, a cut that features a simple yet effectively soaring chorus that heads off to arena filling stadium rock; all very uplifting stuff.

The title track changes direction, a dubstep like beat and unusual percussion form the verses whilst a reverberating chorus aims for the skies before guitar touches and more varied electronica contributions see the track to its conclusion. The subtly gorgeous Lust And Lies features falsetto vocals amongst upbeat guitar strums with another ridiculously simple chorus of “how right you are” defying its own simplicity alongside warm chord progression to provide a moment of sheer beauty.

World Won’t Wait is another stop/start cut featuring strings and a powerful, emotion charged chorus. Modern World’s slow twanging bass line and high pitched vocals create a pleasant exterior as a sweetly sung chorus then helps mask a darker underbelly of intrigue as Bird’s complaints of “I can’t make sense” hint at mental instability. Skeleton Key lurches along before synths take over alongside a swooning chorus although a questionable chord change sounds misplaced.

Latest single Vultures opens to an unaccompanied stuttering guitar line before another Mansun like track emerges, its synth backed chorus aiming for anthem like status amongst loud/quiet interchanges. The album then becomes a little muddled; firstly, Friend Of The Madness switches between string synths and bouncy guitar pluckings to a repeated message of “shiver and shake, foundations break”.

The jazz inflected So Many Colours is different again, ultimately failing to go anywhere during its confused structure and is rather awful in comparison to the rest of the album. Like A Feather (featuring Lou Rhodes) changes direction again, its subtle beauty probably better placed in a different collection as the album closes to a sound that could be a completely different band.
(Music OMH)

Indizien und Beweismittel:

Ortstermine:
28.11.14 Köln, Gebäude 9
29.11.14 Hamburg, Mojo
30.11.14 Berlin, Heimathafen
13.12.14 Leipzig, Tauchenthal
14.12.14 Darmstadt, Centralstation

Urteile: 
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