INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Crocodiles’ fourth album has no filler, pulling together a tightly wound collection of lust-driven, loaded tunes with an undercurrent of cutthroat violence. Above all else, it’s just a great pop album.
The latest album from this San Diego duo follows on from last year’s ten-track Endless Flowers and pares things back even further by averaging out the songs at three-and-a-half minutes each. It’s a taut, accessible offering that drags Jesus And Mary Chain drudgery into Raveonettes-style pop trappings. Think Crystal Stilts’ In Love With Oblivion, Primal Scream’s Screamadelica or The Raveonettes’ Lust Lust Lust.
Charles Rowell and Brandon Welchez continue their business of delving headlong into seedy worlds of dark sex, from the sadomasochism of ‘Marquis De Sade’ and the purist fantasy of ‘Virgin’ to the rousing, faithless opener, ‘I Like It In The Dark’.
The latter song embraces gospel and features some surprising bursts of vocal gymnastics, while the remainder of the album confidently walks a tightrope of scuzzy garage rock and classic British indie guitar music. Final cut ‘Un Chant D’amour’ takes its title from Jean Genet’s highly charged 1950 film: savage and sordid, but also a simple, sweet story of love.
4/5 stars
BY CHRIS GIRDER
Crimes of Passion is out now through Permanent/Shock Records
