Electric Soft Parade - No Need To Be Downhearted

by Giulia Clark

After a four year break and learning a few new tricks, the boys from Brighton are back

"From the unique opening of the delicate and melancholy title track, the tone of the album is set. Far from mindless or throwaway this graduated and quietly simply number blends seamlessly into the more raucous, like ‘Life In The Back Seat’."

When ‘Holes In The Wall’ was released in 2002, it seemed like the freshest, crystal clear indie pop to have emerged in quite some time. The energy and enthusiasm was infectious as were the live performances, and Electric Soft Parade embodied all the hope and sunshine of a generation sick of being aloof and grungy.

By 2003 ‘The American Adventure’ told a different story. Laced with malcontent, the predictable difficulties with record companies and promotions were taking their toll leaving the band in a slightly jaded, angered state well before it was their time.

Cue a long break, a lot of stock taking, and the decision to go it alone, and the result is ‘No Need To Be Down Hearted’.

The first thing to note is that it’s unsurprisingly progressive. The danger faced by the White brothers of falling back into the formula which won them the most, and abandoning the more experimental edge of their second album has been widely averted. The sound is raw and ready with a strange and psychedelic element. The strained, organic chords of the keyboard sit in perfect harmony with the shared and complementary vocals. The track order is un-accidental and satisfying.

From the unique opening of the delicate and melancholy title track, the tone of the album is set. Far from mindless or throwaway this graduated and quietly simply number blends seamlessly into the more raucous, like ‘Life In The Back Seat’. It is like a prologue, a note from the author, a dedication, telling the world what this work is going to be about.

This hint at elegance is peppered throughout the rest of the album. ‘Shore Song’ tinkles away with its rhythmic, plucked guitars like a throwback to another time. Its synthetic dreaminess sits in contrast to the fragile ‘Secrets’, which comes across as more about sadness and regret. This theme builds with the later ‘Come Back Inside’ by which point a certain darkness has crept in and the hushed vocals sound almost faintly sinister.

Elsewhere, ESP are their usual ‘up and about’ selves. ‘If That’s The Case, Then I Don’t Know’, is an "indie disco monster" as the band will tell you, clapping its way through a crunchy, thumping, ride. ‘Misunderstanding’ has all the sunshine and poppiness of ‘Wake Up!’ by The Boo Radleys combined with the band’s familiar stamp, and ‘Cold World’ skips along, the piano swinging, the beat snapping.

Ultimately ‘No Need To Be Down Hearted’ proves two points. Firstly, it is possible for a young band, full of the joys of spring and the awe of messing about and playing music for a living, to progress into producing something truly unusual and intelligent. Secondly, it is also possible to defy the system and go it alone, with the White brothers taking full control of every element of this offering, quite honestly making it all the better for it.

The exuberance is not long lost, and while the band is more aged and wiser, they are thankfully no less fun. Long live successful comebacks and growing old disgracefully.

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