O, Svenonius! Scourge of rock 'n' roll phoniness! For whom The Kids'll
always say Yeah!, offering such affirmative reciprocation whilst in wait
for their Final Judgment, dancing all the time in time to the sounds of
your Revolution. Which, with this Weird War redux, sounds less like
some revolution-style-now and more like the style-of-now, Our Ian's
rock 'n' roll strut and magnificent haircut the kind of artifice adopted
by male models at the moment. So, the question goes, now: How do those
Svenoniusian theatricks — rock band as concept, rock band in outfits,
rock band indulging in ongoing call-and-response chant with audience —
fare now that they're the pop-cultural norm? And how does rock 'n' roll
still suit his insurgent ends now that Da Strokes have returned rockin'
back to affluent white males after that disturbing time when
queer-core/riot-grrrl types tried to use the rock band as vehicle for
their own agendas? Riding that vehicle now seems more like riding a
dead horse, and with crop in hand Svenonius is turning a U-turn, the discographical
lineage for our leader now reading: NOU—>Make-Up—>Weird
War—>Scene Creamers—>(<—>) Weird War, this redux a reduction,
really, a back-in-time to that time where Svenonius' irrepressible spirit was
actually smothered under the studio dickery and fretboard wankery of
Neil Michael Hagerty. But of course, this time around there's not a
Hagerty to be heard, and, free from this blanket, Svenonius' flames can fire
up
a go-over burning some soul into that one weak spot in his back-story,
Weird War now not just some one-off indulgence, but an ever-changing
ever-revolving combo divisible from Scene Creamers in name only. Like
all of this post-Make-Up Svenonius/Mae output, If You Can't Beat 'Em, Bite
'Em occasionally nails an anthemic anthem ("Grand Fraud,"
"AK-47," its Jennifer Herrema-guesting title track), but spends most of its time
indulging in analog-tonal authenticity and groovy rock 'n' roll eccentricity,
seeming more self-satisfied than solemnly striving. Which
is nice work if y'can author it.
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