PLATONIC IDEAL: The Ark
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The Ark are the Platonic ideal of what you’d want from a glam-rock band: wrapped in leather and lace, unabashedly queer, with ridiculous hooks and brashly sweet guitar riffs. The key to their appeal is frontman Ola Salo, a fox on the run who could teach Hedwig a few moves and who can belt like Freddy Mercury when called for. State of the Ark is the Swedes’ third album but the first to get stateside release, and only after the import, which came out last year, garnered a surprising amount of attention. It’s a perfect introduction to the band: their slavish devotion to Queen has evolved into something more nuanced if still as bratty as they wanna be in a way that brings to mind a lighter shade of the Darkness. Sexy T. Rex bass lines lay the foundation for “This Piece of Poetry Is Meant To Do Harm” and “Clamour for Glamour”; the new-wave synths and backbeats of “Let Me Down Gently” and “Trust Is Shareware” give way to fluorescent guitars and supple vocal hooks. It's all super-catchy, proudly uncool, and European as the Scissor Sisters, campy soul mates who have already proved that we’re ready for the Ark to land on these shores.
THE ARK | June 30 | T.T. the Bear’s Place, 10 Brookline St, Cambridge | 617.492.BEAR
On the Web
The Ark: //www.thearkworld.com/