The Ejector Seats - Take Off (Matchbox Recordings)
Phillip Clark | Thursday, 29 April 2010
Claiming to take influences from a spectrum stretching from The Jam to Sophie Ellis Bextor, The Ejector Seat's heaviest influence, however, appears to be bands like The Human League and Erasure.
First track 'No-one Better Than Me' does, in fact, sound similar to The Human League's 'Seconds' and is equally as disappointing. The eerie, creeping technological start gives a good first impression, which is furthered when the guitar kicks in, yet it all comes to nothing.
'Move In For The Kill' claws back dignity and gets things moving with a catchy chorus and tapping beat. The close name connection inevitably makes you compare with La Roux's 'In For The Kill' (which it doesn't come close to), but it is nevertheless a strong effort and one of the best tracks on the album.
But the pick on the album is 'Happiness Don't Live With Me', where they finally get the balance of new romanticism, electro-pop and dance right. And you actually sense a genuine smile on Rebecca's face as she belts out more cheery sounding vocals.
Happiness overload arrives with 'Until Monday', which would be best suited to a TV advert for a frozen food product aimed at children. You can almost see the overly pleased family eating fish fingers!
'Believe In Your Love' starts straight from 90s Ibiza and appears to be taking a different direction to the album's theme but then, just as it is on its way to being a real club track, it seems that Erasure come to hijack it with mega synth-pop, before dragging it back to the same familiar sounds of the album.
Unfortunately the Repetitive tempos, steady beats, happy vocals, cringe worthy lyrics and quick fire lasers, don't quite come together (bar a couple of tracks) convincingly enough to make this work. By all means 'Move In For The Kill 'and 'Happiness Don't Live With Me' are songs to put on your play list (and great mood lifters), but The Ejector Seats don't seem to match the big 80s influenced bands emerging recently and that makes for, at time, tedious listening.
Rating: 2.5/5