Album Review :: Crocodiles - Boys

Crocodiles

Boys

May 11 2015 (ZooMusic)

7.5/10

Words: Richard O’Hagan

Ride have reformed, Shed Seven have never been away and Blur have a new album out. It is as if the Nineties have never really been away and, as if to prove it, San Diego duo Crocodiles are here with their own take on the decade.

That isn’t to say that this is a complete Britpop rip-off, though. Although much of the underlying material is clearly influenced by that very genre, there are elements of baggy, of trance and even of the late-era dance tracks that peppered the charts way back then.

From the moment that Charles Rowell’s guitar crashes you into opening track (and lead single) ‘Crybaby Demon’, to the fading final notes of closer ‘Don’t Look Up’, this is pure summer-infused delight and a pleasure made all the greater for the often sublime juxtaposition of the music with Brandon Welchez’s bittersweet lyrics.

As with a lot of bands at this stage of their career, Crocodiles at times try to be too clever, resulting in tracks such as ‘The Boy Is A Tramp’, which not only sits badly with the rest of the album but which shouldn’t be on any album, ever. And at times they overdo things, resulting in tracks such as ‘Transylvania’, which is about as subtle as trying to clear a blocked sinus by shooting a firework up your nose. There’s no denying, though, that on a hot summer day, with the windows open and the roof down, this is one album which should certainly be the soundtrack of your ride.