Review:

on 2011-07-23 CharlesMartel Said:

Initially, I was not sure about this album. The vocals sound as if it Morrissey has been gene spliced with Debbie Harry. It is in many ways the perfect voice for this type of music, though it could do with a little bit more emotion for the intonation is a bit too mechanical. Perhaps that is intentional, but if it is, the intention does not come through to an extent which would make you believe it to be so. The guitar sound is a case of Johnny Marr meets Robert Smith but again, is a bit too mechanical in its delivery. The organ, after which the band takes its name, adds a new dimension but sounds a little too tinny in places. Still, derivative though it may be, it turns out to be quite an enjoyable listen and it does grow on you. Don't expect any startling revelations or new musical directions. This is pure post punk straight from the eighties. These young women had obviously stolen their older brothers Cure and Smiths albums and listened to them until they could create a similar sound.

Vocalist Katie Sketch is able to wrap her voice, derivative though it may be, around the songs in a way that she makes her own. The songs are largely melancholy but with some occasionally bright moments. Guitarist Deborah Cohen is, however, the main driving force behind this. She manages to make the style of guitar playing, initiated by others, very much her own, and without her the band would have probably struggled to get beyond playing covers and clones of various songs of those artists who the band are trying to emulate.

That is not a bad thing in itself. In an age where bands such as Interpol and Editors have managed to build a career on being clones of Joy Division, the Organ make a welcome change. And in truth, this album is (marginally) better than the best of both those bands, controversial though that opinion may be. My biggest problem with it is that somehow, the sound doesn't seem to have filled out the available space. The fault for this lies squarely with the dreadful production. The Smiths first self-titled album had what I referred to in my review of it as having elephant's ear production (namely flat and grey). Well, mimicking the sound of that band is one thing  mimicking the production of their first album is an entirely different matter. Jangly guitars are alright if there's something behind them. The production has not joined the individual instruments up properly so it sounds like five people each playing something different which happens to fit what the other four are playing. It is in some ways like the Shaggs with talent. My second problem with the album is that the drumming is oh so pedestrian. There is no oomph in it and it is almost devoid of life and feeling. It sounds almost as if it could have been played by a badly programmed drum machine.

Still, the Canadians seem to be leading the way on the post punk revival at the moment, and that revival is one of the best things to happen to popular music in a long while, especially if it causes people to revisit some of the classic albums of post-punks heyday in the early to mid eighties. "Basement Band Song" is the best track on the album and comes the closest to being a real success. But I wonder what it would have sounded like if there had been a better drummer and the production had created a fuller sound. As it is, this is a commendable first effort. Sadly, the Organ would not last beyond this point. The band broke up acrimoniously shortly after its release and so we are denied the opportunity to see what they would have evolved into had they stuck around long enough to develop more of a distinctive sound.
Rating: 7/10