Hot Club De Paris – With Days Like This…
by Matthew James on March 8th, 2010
Hot Club De Paris – With Days Like This As Cheap As Chewing Gum, Why Would Anyone Want To Work?
February 8th, 2010
Moshi Moshi
Score: 7.3
By title alone, it’s impossible not to be intrigued by what might be found inside the 6 songs on this EP from Liverpool’s Hot Club De Paris. With Days Like This As Cheap As Chewing Gum, Why Would Anyone Want To Work? is as fun and carefree as you would expect but this is no novelty act. The three-piece appear to be growing in strength and skill since their 2006 debut full-length with some of their most captivating material yet. That early Futureheads style, vibe, and energy is still here in abundance as are the joys of making sense of the (at times) non-sensically creative lyrics. Maybe it’s because of the shorter EP format but there is a certain degree of clearer focus present that was perhaps slightly lacking in the past. ‘Dance A Ragged Dance’ is blissful indie at its best while the jagged guitars, schizo drums, and big dumb pop choruses keep coming on ‘Dog Tired At The Spring Dance Marathon’ as well as ‘Noses Blazing’. Playful drumbeats and almost shouted football-hooligan-like vocals bring life to ‘Fuck You, The Truth’ and things close on a high with the epic ‘Extra Time, Sudden Death’. With lines such as “Are you guys having a good time?” (on ‘Fuck You, The Truth’) being met with a chorus of boos, this may be the band’s angsty observation of modern life but the same cannot be said for this EP. It’s a collection of songs with tales of the mundane and ordinary that sound anything but.
Matthew James
Menomena