>Bands, generally, sound like other bands. The Kooks sound like Libertines Lite, Oasis sounded like Slade having noisy drunken sex with Status Quo, and Elastica sounded so much like Wire and the Stranglers that they got sued. But there’s nothing really wrong with that – there’s only so many chord sequences and topics to sing about. Unless you’re Natasha Bedingfield, in which the only topic you ever sing about is how unutterably gut-emptyingly awful you are (listen closely to her lyrics).
Sometimes when you listen to a band for the first time, there’s something unmistakable that leaps out and reminds you of another band. The vocals, the rhythm, or even the vibe, maaaan. This happened today when I was listening to Today’s New Band, Sky Larkin. The funny thing is that I just can’t place exactly who they remind me of. Sure, Summit sounds a bit Yeah Yeah Yeahs-y, but that’s just a lazy comparison, primarily because I have a thing for Karen O. But it was mainly their great song Somersault Notes that got stuck, nagging away at me in my head.
The song itself is lovely, swooping and grand, but slender – not stumbling into dreaded ‘overblown epic’ mode. I was positive that it reminded me of another song by another band. I spent a weekend trying to think, but had to give up. It suddenly occurred to me that perhaps it wasn’t reminiscent of anything else, but one of those instances when you hear a great song and it sounds familiar, but is actually brand new. Fingers crossed. The other great songs they have on their MySpace site includes a super-duper cover of QOTSA’s I Was A Teenage Hand Model. Listen to them all here! If you know what that song sounds like, please let me know….
