| Engineers - Engineers |
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| Written by Brittany Hendrick | |
 EngineersEngineers [The Echo Label] Get it at Amazon  A friend of mine was playing a song mix one night, when an unidentified tune was presented to my ears. The song was foreign yet it seemed familiar: lackadaisical vocals with harmonies, a swelling string section, lilting rhythm. There was only one logical answer. "Who sings that?" I asked my friend, excited that his music affections overlapped mine. "Is that Spiritualized?" Glad I asked and did not assume, as I would have had I heard this on the radio. I was astounded to learn that the band in question was not Spiritualized but a new quartet from London, England, called Engineers. Impressed by the song I heard, the single "Home," I sought Engineers' self-titled debut album. Usually, an explosive volcanic eruption must rattle my guts before I'm motivated to follow a fresh band. The reason for my poor attitude is that new music rarely energizes me anymore (another poor outlook in itself); so in this situation, my newfound compulsion to dive into this lucky group of guys was undoubtedly derived from my penchant for early-to-mid-'90s indie rock. Engineers join a wave of broody British bands, such as Elbow and Long-view, that borrow greatly from the days of shoegazing and utilize layers of instrumentation that troll along at a creeping pace. Vocalist Simon Phipps evokes Elliott Smith reincarnated through the tone of Jason Pierce, and perfectly fulfills the sullen guy requirements necessary for this type of music. Sheets of lithe guitars and watery keyboards form strata that exfoliate the lighter surface of shoegazing; the grandiose wall-of-sound technique does not enter the album until the final song, "One in Seven." There's a big error in Engineers' formula, however. As the album kicks off with the wonderfully willowy "Home," every song thereafter fights to sound just like it, particularly in tempo, which, need I say, is largo. While I'm pointing out flaws, Engineers need to go ahead and admit that they are not as original as they perceive themselves. "We don't sound like The White Stripes. We don't sound like Coldplay. We don't sound like anything current," the band proclaims in its biography. Unfortunately, Engineers are a miserable one-third correct in that statement. Thankfully, the White Stripes similarities definitely do not exist (no shit), but likenesses to Coldplay do, assuredly. And Doves. And Leftfield. And Oasis. And, and, and... For instance, the acoustic guitar riff in "Home" and piano chords in "New Horizon" are reminiscent of Coldplay's "Yellow" and "The Scientist," respectively (although Coldplay does its fair share of lifting, such as from Ride, so let's have a party). "Forgiveness" echoes Oasis' "Champagne Supernova" in a recurring slur of guitar. The instrumental "Peter Street" carries the same haunting synth pattern as Leftfield's "Swords." The album sounds like one long interlude from Doves' Lost Souls, but with lyrics. So was I tricked into falling over a band that I got into based on the fact that I thought it was an old indie staple (ironically, the very things I complain about)? Not necessarily. Besides, the problems with Engineers are not detrimental to the members' careers - the influences that impress upon the band are commendable - but I'd prefer them to get messy on the next album and concern themselves less with sounding like their contemporaries while trying not to sound like them, and more with sounding like Engineers. |
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