The Cribs - For All My Sisters

For All My Sisters
The Cribs
Tiger Rating: 8.5 / 10
Indie Pop & Punk

Whilst society in general has always preferred people groups, music genres, movies and art that can easily be labeled and categorized, there have always been the brave handful of artists who have deftly managed to twist and turn their way out of the titles, labels, boxes and brands. Dylan went electric, The Clash proved they could do dub & reggae without even trying and Blondie successfully did disco at the height of the global hatred for the genre. Other artists or bands have started out strong in a genre and tried, halfway through and often unsuccessfully, to switch or cross over. Muse can't do dubstep, Christina Aguilera didn't convince us with grime and the Strokes can't rap. The Cribs have often fallen between the genres. The people in the in-between - the titleless, boxless, genreless minority - are often overlooked, despised or rejected. They are sometimes clumsy and often genius. Even these terms used to describe them can be as ill fitting as mismatched shoes.
With their raw, ratty, garage punk appeal and Ric Ocasek's new wave, gritty pop persona, a perfect recipe was written for an album that sounds as fresh and at the same time faded & jaded as when they first emerged on the scene in 2005.

Mega producer Steve Albini managed to stuff up 2012's 'In The Belly of The Brazen Bull'. His glossy, cut and paste production made for a mediocre, cut and paste album. It was no more edgy or interesting than a trip to a museum. Ideally, if you are one of these genre spanning bands - if your identity is loosely rooted somewhere with no loyalty - if you love and live in a musical No Man's Land - then you want a producer who can throw a bunch of influences in the air and kind of direct you to stand beneath them, to be caught and covered in a multicoloured confetti of influence. Without it being gimmicky.
On this, their sixth studio album, The Cribs sound like Weezer, they sound like 2005 Cribs and they sound like the vast array of frayed-around-the-edges English indie bands of the last ten years. But somehow, surprisingly, they sound mostly like themselves.

Yes this is a guitar album. Yes Jarman's vocals are flat, punky and still venture into his trademark screechy, ballsy rebel yells. But this is a hook heavy album that makes for pure ear candy. The first three tracks make for one of the most summery and refreshing triple plays that doesn't feature Pharrel. Yeah Ocasek has made a lot of the guitars sound like synths, like on the near Don Henley feel good anthem 'Summer of Chances'.
And yeah there are actual synths that occur unexpectedly from time to time. The warbling keys that tentatively lend to a few verses of 'Simple Story' reel the track in from being a country song and cast it into that gritty, post New Wave area where the guys all had dirty jeans and the girls knew how to rollerblade.
'City Storms' has a distinctly Clash / Dead 60s feel. What could be better? Yeah it's catchy.
Looking back on those hazy young relationships through a modern lens of disillusionment has always seemed to make for good songwriting. No more so than on this album.

Somehow, inexplicably, The Cribs manage to stand astride two worlds for every track on what is a very cohesive album. Were they to fall on their face at any part, it would only add to the attitude here. In the process of being both catchy and raw, retro and forward thinking, easy and technical, the band once again find themselves, apart from their producer or previous members or genre. This is them.
They are still relevant, thrilling, likeable and rock and roll.
The record is both easy to digest, refreshing, urgent and easy.
So what?
Stop overthinking and just enjoy it. That's what they're here for in the end.

WVS