This is “Melodic Punk Rock”. Let me get that out of the way straight off. It’s emo and I like it.
It has enough energy and quickly picked up hooks to be worthwhile searching out the tracks available online (yes, they have a myspace page). I like it. But that’s as far as it goes—there’s nothing new here, which is fair enough from an album written a full year ago now, but it’s taken a while for Disco Ensemble to be picked up on outside of Helsinki by anyone other than the uber-cool music press. I’m still reading how they are “one of Finland’s best kept secrets” which is a shame as they do appear to have invested more in the music and less in the image than similar bands.
Tracks Black Euro and We Might Fall Apart would fit nicely as standard fare on almost every radio station these days but Drop Dead Casanova stands out to me as a track that would definitely be kicking me towards the dancefloor for a good emo session in the Garage or Cathouse, it has all the required kit pieces: shouty sing along chorus hook; fringe swinging guitar bridges; and the essential mellower bits in the middle to catch your breath, fix your hair and take a draw on that menthol to reassert scene cred.
Not to everyone’s taste due to the anti-popularity backlash alternative folks tend towards but if you like The Kaiser Chiefs and their ilk then I reckon you’d be stupid not to check these guys out.
First Aid Kit is apparently still only on import from Fullstream Records but Disco Ensemble will be visiting the UK in May for The Great Escape event in Brighton.
