Scribing another chapter in the book Garage Rock Will Never Die, Velvet Starlings (AKA 18-year-old polymath Christian Gisborne) gets with it on debut LP Technicolour Shakedown. Gisborne has the sound nailed: catchy guitar licks, stripped-down R&B beats, snarling vocals through what’s supposed to sound like a cheap microphone. But that’s the easy part, one mastered by thousands of youngsters since 1964. The real talent comes from writing good songs, and luckily Gisborne has that in hand. From the pounding “Checkmate” to the poppy “No Regrets,” from the acidic “Colours on the Canvas” to the blasting “There’s Nobody There,” Gisborne has the bases well covered. Hard to say if Technicolour Shakedown will be a classic of the garage revival, but it’s enjoyable enough to make us want to hear more.
