REVIEW: White Rose Movement – Kick

White Rose Movement explores post-punk and electro in their energetic debut.

Artist: White Rose Movement
Album: Kick
Label: Independiente
Year: 2006
BUY
The White Rose Movement are another one of those bands relishing in the spotlight of the post-punk movement, that has all but risen from the dead. Instead of staying true to the stereotype of the genre, they decided to incorporate another common property of music from the 1980s, in incorporating new age synths and percussion to recall such bands as Flock Of Seagulls. Most debuts from a band as young as White Rose Movement turn out as rehashes with very similar sounding tunes. The London-based White Rose Movement avoid this by providing several songs that cleary space out from each other and make the album a bit more memorable than it really should be.

One thing about the White Rose Movement is that they can certianly capture an atmosphere. The eerie and haunting ‘Deborah Carne’ provide moaning faint background vocals in an intentional dull state, as lead singer Finn Vine goes into a long-streched croon as the chorus approached. In a punk standard, the short-lived chords and quick rapid drum beats fit appropriately for Vine’s vocals. The choruses in the songs seem to gain a new instrument each time after a new verse, such as in the highly enjoyable ‘Pig Heil Jam’. While it is repeatibility for their already common song structures, it enhances the song and makes the song more addictive. I personally find the White Rose Movement’s less known songs to be more rewarding, as songs such as ‘Speed’ and ‘Pig Heil Jam’ shine over hyped singles ‘Alastian’ and ‘Love Is A Number’. The singles provide a nice enough groove to them, but it is hardly anything new. If one song will launch the band to great crowd success, it will be ‘Girls In The Back’, which would fit more appropriately as the album’s opener over the annoying ‘Kick’, which tries too hard and accomplishes too little with feminine background vocals that combine with Vine’s obnoxious vocals. His vocals are fine throughout most of the album, but the opener ‘Kick’ really is not his best display.

The latter half of the album really shines, from ‘Pig Heil Jam’ to ‘Cruella’. Though ‘Idiot Drugs’ has the same disappointing factor also heard in ‘Kick’, where the initial notes sound good but the repeatitiveness prevent the song from ever taking off. The White Rose Movement manufactures similar hooks heard in ‘ in ‘Speed’ such as when the music begins to slow down as Vine muses about drugs and foreplay. I’m not a fan of secret tracks, so ‘Cruella’ should have been cut down about ten minutes in length, leaving the pointless secret track off of the album, but ‘Cruella’ is a great closer representing that the White Rose Movement and their energy don’t seem to cease. The song may capture the second most addictive chorus in the album, besides ‘Girls In The Back’. Vine’s vocals strongly resemble that of the Manic Street Preachers, and the song in general seems to borrow influence from them as well in a faster paced alternative. Apart from the few generic songs, the White Rose Movement has a few gems in the rough with songs such as ‘Pig Heil Jam’ and ‘Speed’, with the always enigmatic single ‘Girls In The Back’. The synth and post-punk combination works well in White Rose Movement’s debut.

Rating: 7.7/10

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01. Kick
02. Girls In The Back
03. Love Is A Number
04. Alasatian
05. London Is Mine
06. Pig Heil Jam
07. Idiot Drugs
08. Deborah Carne
09. Testcard Girl
10. Speed
11. Cruella

= Track Recommendation