The Rakes – Retreat

Nearing the end of last year, I was talking to a press representative at Capitol Records and she told me that this year we would see the british indie rock bands take over the airways; and as the year is coming to its close, its safe to say she was pretty accurate in her prediction. Sure, it wasn’t the biggest breakthrough genre of the year, but you did always hear a few indie rock songs on the top 40 countdowns on the radio. But soon enough, that faux British accent became annoying, and as more indie rock bands appeared, the more I alternated through radio stations. But I guess The Rakes have one thing a head of a lot of those bands (cough* Killers *cough) – their english accent is actually real.

Retreat is the American debut for the UK rock band after releasing several successful albums over seas and fans of Franz Ferdinand, The Libertines or The Vines will probably find some solace within it. The six song EP is actually a pretty good selection of indie rock tunes, with only one song that really makes you cringe – that is the six-minute phone remix of Retreat. While the original version, which kicks off the EP, serves up a nice dish of rock and roll with choppy guitars, steady drum beats, and British vocals, the remixed version is just a little too techno to really be appealing. There’s just too many fake beeps, fades, twangs, and odd noises sewn into it to make it enjoyable.

But other than that little mishap, the remaining five songs are actually quite entertaining. Be it the shouts of “yahoo” (or something to that effect) in Something Clicked And I Fell Off The Edge, the acoustic opening to Dark Clouds or maybe the short, Transplants-esque, 22 Grand Job, The Rakes seem to be able to diversify their music enough to make each song stand alone without the package.

For an indie rock band, The Rakes are quite good. Easily a step up and above most of the bands on the airwaves now – with the right push they could go far. It’s just the fact that indie rock doesn’t really entertain me. It’s not that I have to force myself to listen to it, as it’s an EP that flows nicely and is decent in the background; it’s just not one I’ll go out of my way to listen to.