I first heard about The Wave Pictures from the currently rather sporadic FunFunFun. The first thing you notice is inevitably the rather idiosyncratic vocal. By idiosyncratic I pretty much mean tuneless wail, but it’s far better than you might at first think. Basically, David Tatersall has one of those hugely individual indie voices that sounds horrific to non-fans, but if you like the music it all slips into place and suddenly the tuneless wail becomes one of the things you connect with the most about the music. And if you ask me, he knows how to use it. Every time you think he’s about to go a little bit too far, he just reins it in a little. Mrs. Toad calls it a cross between The Rocky Horror Picture show and early Gene Pitney. Apparently it’s all a bit gay/gonzo: think Hunter S. Thompson Sings..! I have no idea what she’s on about, but I certainly can’t do any better.

They play a sort of stripped down 50s rock ‘n’ roll, overlaid with the Tatersall wail coupled quite brilliantly to economically addictive hooks. Mrs. Toad loves them, and that is a rare compliment indeed given the generally frosty reaction I get to virtually everything I play in the house. Imagine Richard Hawley played by Pinkie from Brighton Rock (it’s a book, you retards) with a little bit of heroin addiction thrown in just to complete the off-kilter perversion (not that I think they’re on smack, obviously). It’s got it’s own little engine of internal magic, this music.

Mrs Toad reckons it’s also quite gay. I don’t quite see how, myself, except perhaps in the angsty, skinny awkwardness of some of the delivery. Most music is sexually confrontational in some way: in a ‘you’re a woman, I’m a man, curse you dammit’ sort of way, but this is always ambivalent. It’s irrelevant anyway; lines like ‘snapped all the strings on the electric guitar that your brother plays in his covers band’ are not all that easily found these days. They can really write lyrics actually. Every song contains little gems, simultaneously pedestrian and artful: sparsely turned phrases that nail an image or a scene to perfection. Bite the bullet, listen to it a few times until you’re used to the voice, and then you will be sucked into the world of The Wave Pictures. It’s harsh and uncomfortable at times, but this is a brilliant album.

The Wave Pictures – Long Island
The Wave Pictures – When I Leave You For Somebody Else

website | myspace Go to the website – it’s extremely download friendly.