Midnight Believer
The Age
Thursday June 18, 2009
Midnight BelieverAleks and the Ramps (Stomp)3.5/5IF YOU'VE ever seen this Melbourne quintet perform live, chances are you won't have forgotten the show. Maybe it was the banjo draped in fairy lights that stuck in your mind, or the ill-fitting basketball uniforms, or perhaps the mid-set dance routine in the middle of the venue floor. Most likely it was all of the above and, importantly, the irresistibly bent pop. This is the second album from Aleks and the Ramps and it's brimming with enough glockenspiel-dusted, banjo-laced guitar-pop gems to have already earned it a Triple R Album of the Week honour. Vocally and in his off-kilter approach to his craft - forget the usual verse-chorus-verse constructs - singer-songwriter Aleks Bryant is more than a little reminiscent of David Byrne but far more playful. Album openers Destroy the Universe With Jazz Hands and the Tom Verlaine-spirited Walking in the Garden are two of the most clever, catchy and bent pop songs you'll hear this year. Best enjoyed with lashings of red cordial.-- JO ROBERTS
© 2009 The Age
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