Robbers On High Street – Grand Animals
Robbers On High Street had a huge hurdle to overcome with Grand Animal, their latest release. On their debut Tree City, they sounded like Spoon clones. Singer Ben Troken sounded like Britt Daniel in every way, and the straight forward guitar sound was vintage Spoon. They caught a lot of flack from the press and fans alike for the uncanny resemblance, and you could put me in that category as well. I remember being mad for some reason when I first heard Tree City thinking, “What are they trying to do ripping off Spoon like this?” I was obviously caught up in the moment and let my head get the best of me, but like most people, I didn’t give the album a chance and it got lost in my collection. Unlike most people though, I have that rule where I need to give most albums I receive at least one listen through, so I gave the album a chance. After a while, I couldn’t get enough of it and I guess I’d forgiven them.
The problem most people saw with Robbers was that they pulled off the Spoon sound almost too well. But name a band out there that could be mistaken as Spoon without actually covering Spoon. Not many, so after a while I became impressed that Robbers were able to write songs that were nearly as good as the songs of Spoon, which remains one of my favorite all time bands. So, enter Grand Animals and my curiosity was instantly peaked. Was I in for another Spoon-esque album? The answer was a surprising no. Troken and co. had obviously had enough of the Spoon talk and their attempt to make a sound that was uniquely theirs is evident throughout this latest release.
The album opener, “Across Your Knees”, has a slight Beatles meets Spoon feel with echoed piano and bouncy bass while “The Fatalist” is the only song that truly had that Tree City Robbers’ sound. “Crown Victoria” is where I think Robbers finally establish that unique sound they were striving for. The vocals both on this song, and for the rest of the album, sound like a strange mix between Britt Daniel’s and The Walkman. The music in “Crown Victoria” is very Walkman sounding, which is a good direction for them. Highlights on the rest of the album are numerous, but “Married Young”, “You Don’t Stand a Chance”, and “Keys to the Century” highlight the second half of the album which is quite different from the first with more strings, horns, and plain overall emotion than the first half, which is much more straight forward rock.
Looking back on my temporary boycott of Robbers’ music because of their Spoon sounding ways, I’m somewhat surprised at my stubborness. Tree City is a great debut and for a Spoon fan, it ultimately ends up being more Spoon sounding music to listen to while waiting for Spoon to release a new album. Grand Animals follows their debut with Robbers going in a different direction and carving out their own sound. It was a good move by them, but I hope they don’t abandon their original sound completely as I quite enjoyed it. Whether you’re a Spoon fan or not, there’s something on both Robbers On High Street’s releases to please everyone and they deserve a listen. Grand Animals comes out July 24th.
Japanese Girls & Spanish Teeth (from Tree City – streaming)
US Tour Dates
June
23 Chicago, IL – Belmont Music and Arts Street Festival
26 Nashville, TN – Exit/ In
27 Newport, KY – Southgate House *
28 Detroit, MI – The Magic Stick *
29 Akron, OH – Lime Spider *
30 Brooklyn, NY – Southpaw *
July
1 Baltimore, MD – Ottobar *
2 Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s *
3 Cambridge, MA – TT The Bear’s *
5 Arlington, VA – Iota Club and Café *
6 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom *
7 Columbus, OH – The Basement *
10 Chicago, IL – Schubas
11 Dekalb, IL – Otto’s
12 Milwaukee, WI – Mirimar *
13 Minneapolis, MN – Triple Rock *
14 Madison, WI – High Noon *
* with The Redwalls
Official Site / Myspace / More mp3’s from Grand Animals
