You have to love a band that, having built up a reputation for the adventurous and eclectic, for surprising musical moves and un-second-guessable sonics, chooses to open their album with, for them at least, what seems like an almost conventional song. Don’t get me wrong, “Fallout/Shelter” is a gorgeous affair, a nod to earlier chamber pop and soul balladeers, and if it was the first track of any more conventional bands’ albums, it would simply seem like a nice opener. Here, however, it feels like a statement, as if to say, “see, we can stick to rules and expectations if we choose to”, it’s just that more often than not, they decide not to. It is this ebb and flow between comfort zones and chaos which lays at the creative heart of the band.
Recent single, “Monsters of Nothing” follows, moving us from the soulful and seductive to the sassy and the strutting, a fusing of shimmering sonics and gregarious groove, and “Daddy Lollipop” has a sort of sixties pop vibe, but that feeling is then cocooned in searing guitar salvos. The lyrics in a more understated context might be fun and throwaway, but here as they ride the sonic waves they seem to take on a more edgy feeling, the whole thing akin to a song on the soundtrack to an early Tarantino movie.
And if coating pop songs in more adventurous sheens gets your motor running, you will love “Secrets.” Again, on paper things seem innocent enough, but by the time the tune has been housed in squalling guitars and complex dynamics, sitting somewhere between quirky R&B and intense industrial music, between pop and a hard place, it becomes uniquely wht.rbbt.obj-esque.
This final chapter in their “NATO Call Sign” trilogy, like those albums before it, is more than an exercise in pushing musical boundaries. It is about taking your deepest, most intimate thoughts and feelings, and seeking to exorcise some of the hurt by giving it a voice. Listen properly to these great songs and you will find beyond the unique sounds and boundary-pushing songwriting, an album full of expressions of grief, resilience, and connection, love, loss, and longing.
And perhaps the band is best summed up by their own mission statement. “ wht.rbbt.obj isn’t here to blend in. They’re here to bring back the danger, the romance, and the raw, electric thrill of rock ‘n’ roll.” Anyone giving this album a spin will undoubtedly say that it’s mission accomplished.
Website
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
