Well Done Europe
Album | The Chap
Quirky Brits go slightly more accessible.
"You will never have lunch in this town again" is the kind of threat that could only come from a band like The Chap, for whom Pet Shop Boys and Donald Fagen seem to be twin pillars of inspiration. It seems reasonable to wager that the London band’s moniker was inspired by the satirical British magazine of the same name, which is dedicated to the cause of "anarcho-dandyism." On their fourth album, the more abstract edges of The Chap’s experimental-pop sound have been smoothed out for a relatively accessible feel, though the end result is still plenty quirky, coming off like the Godley & Creme songbook as interpreted by Hot Chip – or is that vice versa? Sleek synth lines share space with clipped, angular (but always clean-sounding) guitar riffs beneath politely low-key vocals that deliver sometimes-absurdist, sometimes-ironic lyrics referencing everything from U.K. science celebrity Richard Dawkins to The Chap themselves. Subversion seems to be the agenda of these odd-but-infectious, occasionally danceable tunes; if Steely Dan formed in England circa 2000, it’s possible to imagine them turning out something like Well Done Europe.
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Pet Shop Boys -
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