Album Review: The Tupolev Ghost - The Tupolev Ghost EP

The Tupolev Ghost is a name that doesn’t appeal to me, it had me expecting another bandwagon jumping screamo band that has a myspace friends list of at least five figures, well, if there’s ever an opportunity to use the phrase ’don’t judge a band by their name’ then this is it. The band are signed to arguably the best independent record label in the UK in ‘Big Scary Monsters’ and have a list of influences that covers a good 80% of my record collection, ranging from At The Drive In to Modest Mouse and most things inbetween. To say I was excited to listen to this release is an understatement. The worry was that such high hopes might leave me a bit disappointed if the band didn’t live up to my expectations, luckily, this is certainly not the case.

The EP starts with a minutes worth of eerie music that wouldn‘t sound too out of place on a black and white horror movie. Then the EP kicks off properly with second track ‘Zeroes And Noughts’ which gives a good idea of what the band are all about, it has the vocals that aren’t quite singing, aren’t quite shouting and aren’t quite talking, but a fantastic amalgamation of all three, the eccentric guitars that twist and turn all over the place, the hard pounding drums. It definitely leans towards the eraticness that bands like Fugazi and Shellac are loved for, and I guess it’s pretty similar to former label mates Meet Me In St Louis as far as modern day comparisons go.

The EP carries on in a similar fashion with standout track ’Diagrams’ racing along at full throttle before paving the way to a chorus a bit reminiscent of Million Dead at their best. Following track ‘Giant Fucking Haystacks’ has the selling point of featuring ‘indie gone major’ success Sam Duckworth aka ‘Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly,’ but there’s more to the song than just a name drop, it’s another fantastic track and with crew shouts of "just like giant fucking haystacks" what’s not to like?

Next up is ‘The Night’ which again sticks to the formula that The Tupolev Ghost have perfected, it bolts round all over the place, but does have a few more poppier elements that are a little bit ‘Infinity Land’ era Biffy Clyro. The EP closes on a high with ‘Our Greatest Destroyer’ which displays the bands individual talents and shows us just how great of a band The Tupolev Ghost are. It’s a fitting end to a fantastic record.

At a time when the UK is producing waves of generic US soundalikes, it helps to dig a little bit deeper to find the innovative bands, and make no mistake, The Tupolev Ghost are the diamond in the crown of the current underground music scene. Let’s hope the band follow in the footsteps of a certain someone that appears on this record and get the attention and success their music warrants.

4/5

Listen to the band at: http://www.myspace.com/thetupolevghost

Daniel Ferguson