White Lies | Ritual

Fiction (2011)
By REYAN ALI  |  January 11, 2011
2.0 2.0 Stars

 01142011_WhiteLiesOTR

If the bombast of Ritual is any indicator, nights out with White Lies must be dramatic, humorless affairs. Life-altering monologues will be recited, voices will be raised, glasses will be smashed, blood will be spilt. Leading this po-faced approach are bassist Charles Cave's overwrought lyrics, as interpreted by Harry McVeigh. The poor singer/guitarist gets saddled with lines like "If I'm guilty of anything/It's loving you too much," "You went where the horses cry/You've never taken that way with me before," and "Hold tight for heartbreak/Buckle up for loneliness." But instead of deflating their portent, McVeigh plays up the gravitas, sounding way too much like Brandon Flowers in overbearing arena-rock mode. (Killers/White Lies comparisons may be stale, but in this case they're apt.) The Greater London band fare better on the music side, but not by much. Their synth-inflected post-punk has populated arenas before, and Ritual comes pre-beefed-up for mega-audiences (thus explaining — but not justifying — the singing), with the band's frosty atmospherics often losing their way. The most authentic moments are the smaller ones, as when McVeigh gets to recite such peculiar poetic fragments as "a shower of discipline" and "Bad sex and ethanol/High scores in solitaire." Among the other alluring details: the melody of "Strangers"; the percussive pulses running beneath "Turn the Bells"; the exquisite end of "Peace & Quiet." But the overarching ideas are enormous, like the chorus that warns, "This is bigger than us." Therein lies the problem: Ritual is so grandiose that it rarely has room to breathe.

Related: The good Doctor is in (and out, and in ...), Nite Jewel | One Second of Love, The Big Pink | Future This, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Music, London, UK,  More more >
| More


Most Popular
ARTICLES BY REYAN ALI
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   MARNIE STERN | THE CHRONICLES OF MARNIA  |  March 13, 2013
    In the arena of charming and entertaining indie-music figures, Marnie Stern stands unopposed.
  •   NO REST FOR BLACKBIRD BLACKBIRD  |  March 13, 2013
    Blackbird Blackbird's 2012 EP Boracay Planet takes its name from two sources: Boracay — a beach-filled, postcard-perfect island in the Philippines — and a dream Mikey Maramag had about the tourist trap, despite never having visited.
  •   WILD BELLE PUSH MAGICAL BUTTONS  |  February 11, 2013
    Wild Belle's multi-ethnic allegiances — Afropop, reggae, and rocksteady — fuse into American indie-pop and classic rock. Results are, at varying times, tropical, tepid, and tempestuous.
  •   THE LUMINEERS AIM FOR THE RAFTERS  |  February 01, 2013
    Jeremiah Fraites isn't famous — at least not yet. The drummer of the Lumineers, the folk trio who experienced an outrageously fruitful 2012, is talking to me two days before appearing on the January 19 Saturday Night Live, but he doesn't sound convinced that his band have crossed the fame threshold.
  •   PHANTOM GLUE COME INTO FOCUS  |  January 23, 2013
    Variations of "nightmarish" and "psychedelic" come up repeatedly as Matt Oates describes his band's work — which makes sense, given that Phantom Glue trace their roots back to Slayer, the Jesus Lizard, and cult post-hardcore act KARP.

 See all articles by: REYAN ALI