The Duke Spirit–Neptune
Several years ago I was so excited about these guys. Liela Moss has such a cool, through the cigarette fog voice, and the band seemed to have the Velvet Undergroung drive down pat. They never really lived up to the potential their first two eps showed, however, and the new(ish) album only disappoints further. I mean, all the pieces are there, and some of the songs still have the right energy, but most of the time The DS just comes off sounding like a poor man’s Metric.
Without a doubt these guys sound best when the songs follow a steady, building beat a la Heroin and let the somewhat simple mix of guitars wash with Moss’s voice into something insisting. Somehow, they just can’t make the jump to anything faster without sounding just poppy. So, again for The Duke Spirit, not a bad album, but not the one they should be making either.