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10 out of 10
Hideki Yukawa is the second release from the Leeds based Napoleon IIIrd. This mini album follows his 2007 debut 'In Debt To' and he is subsequently about to embark on a complementary nation wide tour. Over the past year it is obvious that Napoleon IIIrd has been busy creating seven tracks of tightly tuned genius, the EP stands as a stark testament to this: A mass of textures and ideas neatly interwoven, with an undeniable ear catching quality.
The opening track 'Zebra' is the sorry tale of the last standing striped steed after some kind of genetically engineered virus wipes out the world's zebra population. The verses have nice dynamics as Napoleon details the doomed fate of the final zebra while the choruses have an irresistible sing along quality, akin to Cockney Rebel's 'Come up and see me'. The lyrics ("I'm not surprised, you're the last zeb-ra, those white stripes never suited ya, they look better when they're on my wall") are some how squeezed into a few breathes backed by bright guitar riffs, ringing chords and beautiful rising harmonies. The choruses are placed sparingly, yet it works so well it leaves you wanting more of them to the point that if the whole song was just the chorus over and over it would still be listenable. It's a bar brawl of upbeat zoological ballad, naturally verging on the surreal.
'The Strong Nuclear Force' sounds vaguely like 'Bringing Sexy Back' with its sleazy synth drone, drum machine and wavering vocals. Distorted drum breaks and choppy guitar crash up and down while 8 bit sound bytes flicker away in the background, building into a cacophony of screamed vocals, guitar riffage and saxophone before collapsing into a heap of dying trumpets and swirling organ that sounds reminiscent of the ending to 'Jugband Blues' (one of the last Pink Floyd songs to feature Syd Barrett and the only Barrett composition on the group's second album 'A Saucerful of Secrets', released in 1968).
'This Haircut Generation' starts with palm muted guitar ,thumping synth and a rolling bass line while Napoleon's lyrics twist around the Guns of Naverone, camels in Arabia and the sky not holding airplanes. The whole things builds and wells into a crescendo then stops and starts over again, the whole shebang being a seemingly scathing yet covert commentary of the Indie/ iPod generation and the hundreds of samey 'haircut' bands that crowd the airwaves. He claims the sky won't hold airplanes anymore and Napoleon of course has a point: there are only so many airplanes that can fit in the sky before they start to crash.
'Your God' is sounds like The Strokes crossed with Blur while it's a strictly bricks and mortar affair, crunching along with an evil bass line thundering in the background. It waltzes off into a instrumental jam of clashing drums and guitar riffs, hypotonic but still relevant.
'The Downstroke' is a piano led echoed funeral march that suddenly picks up into a brisk pace with haunting bottle neck guitar whines. Napoleon's voice is a sombre baritone reminiscent of Joy Division's Ian Curtis ,while the sombre acoustic piano parts are akin to Micah P Hinson.
'The Sky Is Too High' begin with watery delayed guitar, echoed feedback, all swelling into a pit of whines and shimmering sound waves, shifting from Joy Division towards Radiohead then Sigur Ros and back again as pulsing bass joins before exploding into a dance floor beat. An instrumental halleluiah of sound with buzz saw like guitar growling louder as Napoleon's voice appears out of the shadows like a minister speaking over a religious procession of instruments that in turn holler beautiful watery sounds that swell up and down. Twisting all around, showing no sign of letting up, shifting into trance like drum beats until the procession finally fades out into an UFO tractor beam raking over Napoleon's guitar left lying against its amplifier.
'See Life' is the final and gentle acoustic piece. Morose and sincere, it shows Napoleon stripped bare, the only one left after all those that joined him on the record, the swirling soundscapes he so carefully controlled had disappeared into the shadows. Yet slowly as he laments how every thing has to end sooner or later they return to join him for one last tear jerking rallying call as his vocals swell and rise to the heavens. Triumphant trumpets, crashing drums and of course ever present erratic synth.
That is how the album ends: like a multi coloured patchwork circus tent filled with odd animals composed of light and sound, Napoleon IIIrd as the ring master and at the end there he stands waving goodbye while his sounds line up and take a bow behind him. His record company claim a second album is expected later this year: who knows what memorising new sounds and ideas will turn up in Napoleon IIIrd's circus? We'll have to wait and see.
Listen: http://www.myspace.com/boney3
Tracklist:
1. Zebra
2. The Strong Nuclear Force
3. This Haircut Generation
4. Your God
5. The Downstroke
6. The Sky Is Too High
7. See Life
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