Mohair – Small Talk

The first time I consciously stumbled upon Mohair was on an IKON FOOTWEAR promo CD, along with a bunch of likeminded contemporary MODernists, and surprisingly enough, this was also when I realised that our previous un-conscious encounter(s), was during the numerous broadcasts of Becks beer TV commercial.

A description of them being dressed “like The Small Faces circa Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake, wearing their hair like The Who circa Quadrophenia, and sounding like The Black Crowes circa Chris Robinson’s marriage to Kate Hudson”, sums it up pretty well, except that the outlook influences seem to penetrate the sound just as deep, with the bluesy psych of Disarray, halfway between Jellyfish and the ‘Crowes, being the closest to the above sound-reference.

The mentioned Ikon Footwer-fitting pair of tunes are the happy-go-lucky Small Faces-like singalong Stranded (the one most appropriately chosen for the Becks commercial) and the Buzzcocks-through-Prisoners type of a Hammond-laden powerhouse of Little Voice.

Otherwise, the opening Talk Of The Town is a kind of more muscular Parklife-era Blur “madness”, with an amazing a-capella bridge, followed by the Coral-like quirky popsike of End Of The Line, with an almost sea-chanty mood to it.

Tribal rhythm, delivered with garage-punk attitude, most usually equals The Strangeloves, but Everything I Want gets much wilder, and louder for that matter, within the same concept, with an additional Stray Cats-like “runaway” stomp,

And it’s the Kinky ballad Thin Air, that slows it down a bit, before another dose of Coral quirkiness heard in Keep It Together, and the closing L.A. Song, which seems to borrow some of Dylan’s “… rolling stone” sessions vibe, which also happens to be the most conventional pop song on the album, being non the less great than any of it’s predecessors.

Oh, and another thing about the looks … one of the guys on the back cover is an almost spitting image of ‘67/’68 Twink.

[Released by Ear Candy 2006]

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