Sunday 6 April 2008

Operator Please - Yes Yes Vindictive

http://www.clickmusic.com/articles/7551/Operator-Please---Yes-Yes-Vindictive.html

The debut album from the Australian teens is surprisingly not completely unirksome, mostly because Sarah Gardiner's synth counter-melodies add something different to the ever abundant amount of 'new indie' out there. They don't sing beyond their years, they instead go for the attack, the refrain, the hook that infiltrates. 'Just A Song About Ping Pong' is a shoe-shuffling alliterative jumble sale of a pop song, and if you don't think so, it's time to rethink your take on life. On the playback of the whole LP though, Operator Please are unfortunately just another addition to the Topshop school of barely nubile brats, and whilst this album isn't going to change your life, it's awareness of that fact does make it all the more fun. The songs here are mostly high-octane, frantic slabs, and it has to be said that a whole album of such raucousness grows tiresome quickly, especially when backed up by such an uncynically emo setting. The lyrics are what you'd expect from hyped up teenagers, as is the album – and whilst that's not enough to knock it down, you are left to wonder just how this album is going to sound once they've been given the chance to grow up. Not that Operator Please care about permanence, when they're so focused on their fluorescent brand of menace. It's difficult to criticise a teenage band for being teenage, although it's even more difficult to avoid it when they don't seem to find room to reach that higher gear despite the songs each having their own aural identity.Rave-up 'Cringe', however, is a true gem; perfect for pogoing your way around the dancefloor to in its monosyllabic straight-forward delivery. But when the album moves into borderline annoyingly Avril Lavigne saccharine on 'Two For My Seconds', it's impossible to compare vocalist Amandah Wilkinson to a Karen O type anymore. Unless they get better in time for their second album, there are not enough positives to carry them through.

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