Recruit: Recruit

They say every cloud has a silver lining.

This week’s column was scheduled to feature a performance review of piano-pop-pompadour Luke Leighfield, following an appearance at Kind bar’s acoustic night, The Collective.

However, when adverse weather conditions forced organisers to postpone the event until further notice, I turned to the growing pile of CDs from local musicians and stumbled across the eponymous release from Lincolnshire band Recruit.

To begin with, I need to address something about the band’s name. Their EP suggests I should spell their name with a capital letter at the end and a lower case at the start. However, good grammar has got the better of me on this one, and I’m sorry Recruit, but I refuse.

Opening track Where’s It Gonna Get Ya sets the tone right from the start with a somewhat arrogant bile. The echoed guitar effects, backing rhythm and simplistic, repetitive refrain could be likened to the brand of indie-dance pioneered by bands like The Music and The Sunshine Underground amidst the New Rock Revolution.

It should be noted that when I use words like “arrogant” and “simplistic”, these are not necessarily to be taken in the negative. Throughout 2009, music was dominated by ostentatious flamboyance bereft of any believable humanity. It’s refreshing to listen to a band so sure of their output – especially one homegrown.

Billy Tabasco is a muddle of metaphors, much like those originally made endearing by The Coral some five or six years ago. Meanwhile, Look For You is backed by a prominent keyboard bringing forward shades of Kasabian and latter-day The Verve.

What You Keep is driven by a baseline which can only be described as dirty. There’s a sinister growl from deep in the heart of this one, capturing the black denim and ripped leather spirit of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club or The Cooper Temple Clause.

It’s safe to say Recruit’s self-titled release is a melting-point of many of their major lad-rock influences, but take to it with an open mind, and possibly in the wake of some other musical disappointment, and you could find yourself pleasantly surprised.

For more information on Recruit, visit www.myspace.com/recruitband