Everything Everything/ Man Alive

Everything Everything
Man Alive
(Geffen Records)

“Just come up with something organic”, yelps the vocal harmony of ‘Photoshop Handsome’, and in doing so seems to neatly surmise the mission statement behind Everything Everything’s debut. Handmade this record definitely is, and oozing with innovation too.
This album comes from the minds of four white males who’re orchestrally astute but equally no strangers to pop, if the chorus of their first single ‘Suffragette Suffragette’ is anything to go by.
From Jonathan’s constant falsetto-pushing we’re lead through vocal labyrinths of obscure, Sega-referencing lyrics and a dense passage of harmonised melodies. It’s a punishing regime, which they claim is an act of purposeful avoidance of anything too familiar. And that’s the crux of the matter.
Everything Everything have scoured some genius pop moments, pilfering like intelligent magpies – see the flitting verses of ‘QWERTY Finger’ that match the infused impact of anything Paul Smith ever uttered for Maximo, even dropping the pitch to suit this more post-punk paranoia. Then there’s the band’s fondness for funk, which craftily makes its way into a wealth of the tracks, especially noticeable on ‘Schoolin’, and the unsettling Interpol-style guitar shadows of ‘Come Alive Diana’.
As far as complaints go, though, having too much quality derived from perfect influences? Well, you could do far worse, couldn’t you.