Austerlitz Austerlitz

Is it written in the French constitution that all citizens must have access to vintage synths? Liberté, égalité et Moogs pour tous! That's the thought that occurs after merely the first few notes of Austerlitz's debut album as Walking into the Fire sounds just like a Phoenix song, albeit a Phoenix song with a slightly off-kilter time signature. Sadly, the rest of the album proves to be far less interesting - being a Phoenix copycat act might not be the most inspiring ambitions, but it would be preferable to the route that Austerlitz have decided to take instead, that of a third-rate pop-punk act (as if we didn't have enough of those already). 

The most distinctive thing about Austerlitz is Gil Charvet's voice, with its Parisian-by-way-of-Orange-County accent. Coupled with his odd choices of words to emphasise and various malapropisms and you get the impression that he doesn't actually understand much of what he's singing (which, to be fair, makes Austerlitz more original than most landfill acts, who just sound like they don't believe in what they're singing). And it turns out the unusual time signatures are something of a necessity in order to fit in the inelegant lyrics, and Charvet's even more inelegant delivery of them. By track number five, Rotten Ears, the strain proves too much and it starts to fall apart, although this might also be because of the song's especially ridiculous lyrics, which seem to be berating someone for suffering from hyperacusis, or the unwieldy spoken word section (possibly the unintentional comedic high-point of the year in music).

It might seem to be a bit of an easy slam-dunk, picking on someone not singing in their own language ('try writing this review in French if you think you're so smart' you might be thinking), but in truth, the vocals are far more interesting and charming in their amateurishness than the music. Not that it's bad – the, admittedly very similar sounding, riffs of Happy Song? and Yes But With You are quite pretty – but it is wholly unremarkable. However, while not exactly great, Stay in Line is something of an exception, it being a synth-heavy number that, with its lyrics delivered as blank-eyed slogans, has something of the Kraftwerk about it (it is weird though that the lyrics consist mostly of stations of the Paris and London Undergrounds – hearing a French guy singing 'Mile End, Canning Town, Green Park' does raise thoughts of Eurovision).

It's not like Austerlitz don't have potential, but it's fair to say that they should think about ditching the American influences in favour of more European ones. After all it's better to be another Air/Daft Punk/Phoenix-influenced act than risk sounding like Fall Out Boy and their ilk or, even worse, a particularly uninspired Smashing Pumpkins B-Side.