Failsafe – Routines

Few options remain for bands like the U.K.’s Failsafe to distinguish themselves from the herd of post-punk bands seeking to reinvigorate a style that had been in decline for much of the 21st century. Failsafedoes not achieve this goal with its interesting stylistic choices, which end up sadly lacking in follow-through, but they do provide a solid offering that will bring them a comfortable following in the American post-punk mainstream, oxymoron though that phrase may be.

As this album follows the successful “lots of shiny sound, all the time” formula that guided mainstream punk well into the 21st century it takes a few listens to realize just how much the production accomplishes for this work. Whether by design of the band-mates themselves or producer Dave Eringa, a common acoustic theme unites a broad variety of sounds, letting Routines present poetic anthems like “Something to Someone” to rawer, instrument-driven tracks like the appropriately named “Skin and Bones.” Lyrically much of Routines blends together – perhaps intentionally reusing and reusing the themes and imagery from “Routines” to center the album, or not – but by carrying those themes through love, childhood and the scene each song has its own value acoustically.

Unfortunately the album’s big promise, made by the “Persistence of Memory” opening track’s reference to the Salvador Dali work and subsequent use of a timepiece sound, falls flat. Perhaps a reference to a painting involving melting clocks combined with an unchanging, relentlessly un-melted tick-tock sound reveals the band bit off more than it could chew by appropriating a defining work of the 20th century, but over-ambition is a hard conceit to excuse.

We catch a glimpse of it later in the album, on the haunting instrumental rustling at the end of “Something to Someone,” but beautiful though it is it feels more like a tribute to some of the other imagery on the album – to that of times of day, not to the passage of time itself, themes that don’t quite add up coherently across the album. One must always have trepidation of rock albums that dare start with the ringing of clocks, and a relentless effort at making a theme must not be confused with a successful effort at so doing.

Much can be said for the school of poppy British post-hardcore that gave rise to Failsafe, but vociferous promotion is not one of its strong suits. It’s a minor marvel of non-strategic thinking that has allowedFailsafe to remain as largely unknown in the U.S. punk scene as it has. We can’t blame the band’s constant small-time U.K. label-hopping –Yeah Yeah Yeahs, anyone?  Nor can we blame the band’s isolated productions – The ‘Tone, anyone?! – and they’ve been touring for a decade. I suspect the time Failsafe has had avoiding the limelight is soon to run out.