I’ve lauded the lovely luxembourg and lambasted the lamentable lack of label lure for most of 2004. ‘Best Kept Secret’ indeed, as the lads plugged valiantly away on the club circuit, producing exhilarating demos, sharing comp album space with up ‘n’ coming art rock types Bloc Party and Art Brut, and finally releasing their bona fide first single in September, the wonderful what the housewives don’t tell you. Thoroughly likeable and prodigiously talented blokes all, their oeuvre traverses the highways and byways of Pulp and The Smiths, the latter particularly found in the velvety lushness of permanently besuited crooner David Shah. The band is at pains to point out this is not their debut album; pop open the jewel case and big bold letters reinforce that in no uncertain terms. So there. What ‘BKS’ does (brilliantly) is collate those scintillating demos of suburban homoeroticism and bedsit boredom, some as they were, some acoustic, some electro, warts and all, and if it’s this fucking amazingly good, ye gods, what will their real debut album be like?
From the kick off exuberance of let us have it, all raunchy guitar licks and squiggly synth, we plunge into the haunting mellowness of theme from luxembourg with a delightfully end-of-the-pier keyboard burst from Alex and really farty bass courtesy of Jon. It’s followed by the fantastically uptempo we are the resistance, sampling 60s unknowns Charielle & The Louchettes, David launching a barrage of his typically literate lyrics, Steve pounding away on drums for all he’s worth, and… is that Pinky and Perky freaking out in the background?
The Japanesey electro take on lemon & lime (according to Alex it’s a lollipop thang) is shimmeringly superb; make it, a heartfelt tale of the mis-matched (‘I think we can make it…/No I don’t think we’ll make it’) is an all-time fave lux epic (of mine anyway); close-cropped (housewives b-side, and for my money a born a-side if ever an a-side there was) is treated to a laid back acoustic run through; raised (David’s funeral request) is quite, quite beautiful; and there’s a redux version of reasons for losing sleep that perfectly soundtracks the twinkly twilight of the city with crepuscular canine contribution. The whole enterprise is rounded off with a live rendition of in my bed, and although marred by pig-ignorant chatterboxes, they at least have the good grace to show a final hearty appreciation for the greatness that has just been strewn before them like sweetmeats before swine.
luxembourg have the ability to glide as effortlessly as a cloud across a summer sky between the sublime and the sassy, the serene and the seedy, and I pray that 2005 is the Year People Sit Up And Take Notice. They are the ‘bourg, prepare to be assimilated, resistance is futile.