Album: Costello Music

Artist: The Fratellis

Stars (Out of 10): 8

Favorite Tracks: Chelsea Dagger, Cuntry Boys and City Girls, Creepin Up The Backstairs

Sounds Like: Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand, The Rifles, Battle

One will almost certainly find elements of the Arctic Monkeys, the Kaiser Chiefs and Franz Ferdinand in the Fratellis’ debut offering The Costello Music.  A band of this nature seems to emerge daily from the British, indie landscape, and its not difficult to draw similarities, right off the bat, with these up and comers and their more established (although not by much) contemporaries.  Almost immediately the story telling tendencies of the Arctic Monkeys can be seen in the Fratellis with tales of “Cuntry Boys” having a go with typical “City Girls” of the day in any British town or city from Southampton to Aberdeen.  A common theme of these “up and comers” commonly plays off a tired social situation in which a lowly chap feels inept and incapable of attracting that “fit” bird at the bar, or to a further extent, of a poor fellow losing that “bird” (if he did manage to get her somehow)  all too easily and ruing what could have been (see AM Red Lights Indicates Doors Are Secure and Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweethearts).  With regard to the Kaiser Chiefs, the Fratellis mirror their punky, up beat, jump up and down, sing along tunes all too well.  “Chelsea Dagger” starts off in a typical Kaiser Chief fashion with no words being formed in the opening for the better part of a minute.  One can’t help but sing along with the “do da do do da do” in much the same way as in the Kaiser Chief’s song “Na Na Na Na Naa”.   Finally the overall package and unusually polished end product the Fratellis closely resembles that of fellow Glaswegians Franz Ferdinand.  For a band that only played their first gig together in March of 2005, the Fratellis come across decidedly more accomplished than their short time together would suggest.

With strong hints of Arctic Monkeyish story telling as well as the energy and “punkyness” of the Kaiser Chiefs on top of the unusually polished look, feel and sound of Franz Ferdinand, the Fratellis debut The Costello Music is a highly typical release from the resoundingly unimaginative British indie scene at present. Still, Costello Music is a fun album with a hanful of memorable hits nonetheless.