Yves Klein Blue - Ragged & Ecstatic
Dew Process/Universal
By Andrew P Street
It's wonderful when a band doesn't let you down. Yves Klein Blue blitzed MTV's Kickstart competition, then became Triple J darlings with the release of their 'Yves Klein Blue Draw Attention To Themselves' EP, and now they've created a debut album that actually delivers on their early promise.
There are plenty of first-listen hits: single 'Getting Wise' is gloriously catchy, based around a rattling piano riff that seems seconds away from bursting into 'Come On Eileen' at any moment, and EP favourite 'Polka' reappears mid-way through the disc. However, what's most impressive about the album is that the band aren't afraid to demonstrate their versatility: 'Digital Love' is a slice of sleazy rock, contrasting with the spry hi-life guitar of the opening 'Make Up Your Mind' and the singalong country of the closing 'Gin Sling'. As though that wasn't enough, 'About The Future' is a voice-and-guitar strum of which Jeffery Lewis would be proud, and 'Summer Sheets' is a brass-filled ska stomp. The connecting threads through all of this is the strength of the songwriting and the personality-filled voice of Michael Tomlinson. Sure, it's a smidge long and loses steam toward the end – 'Reprise' and 'Queeny' would be superior b-sides, but add little to the album as a whole – but Ragged & Ecstatic is an assured and powerful debut.
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