Merchandise - After the End

Merchandise

After the End

25 August 2014

4AD

 

3.5 stars out of 5

 

 

You know a band isn’t terribly interested in becoming well-known when they’ve released five LPs and don’t even have a Wikipedia entry. When Floridian indie band Merchandise appeared on a couple of year-end lists in 2012 for Children of Desire, I found it difficult to find out much information about them. Now they’re with legendary British label 4AD, but despite rubbing shoulders with the likes of the Pixies and Dead Can Dance no one has got around creating that Wikipedia entry. For a band that’s named after things specifically created to be sold, they don’t seem terrible interested in selling themselves.

 

But the music? On After the End Merchandise have adopted a sound and style much different from their the lo-fi punk of their previous albums—picture a less dancy Psychedelic Furs or a less ragged Echo & the Bunnymen. (Those without much imagination would see similarities to The National, but these are superficial at best). This is apparently (according to the brief blurb on 4AD’s website) an intentional reinvention on the band’s part, aided by having Gareth Jones (Interpol, Depeche Mode, Grizzly Bear, These New Puritans) mix the record that the band produced themselves. These new factors in the band’s approach are most readily apparent on the seven-minute title track, a glossy tribute to the London scene of 30 years ago, but without any of the keyboard goofiness that makes some of that music sound dated today.

 

How ‘80s is Merchandise now compared to the ‘90s sound of their previous records? Check out the video for “Enemy.” Doesn’t that have Echo & the Bunnymen written all over it? Yes, it does. And that is a very good thing.

 

reviewed by Richard Krueger