Artist: Free Energy
Label: EMI Records
Release: 2010
Runtime: 44:15
Rating: 2.5/5
Free Energy? In the 21st century, that can only be a cross between Cheap Trick’s classic rock blueprint and Jimmy Eat World’s take on what rock is. A party-happy quintet bitten by the “rock and roll” bug, this time a product of Philadelphia (Pennsylvania, USA). When you hear the opening cowbell that kicks off the album and the first (title) track, you pause for a second at the sharp, tongue-in-cheek humor The Darkness once managed to squeeze out of themselves so convincingly. Well, the rest of the song soon abandons any hope of anything of the sort.
Free Energy are cheerfully chirping starlings who haven’t been out of the nest all that long. They grew up carefree, with a bottomless supply of McDonalds hamburgers and everything a kid could wish for while growing up and fighting through the “teenager” years on the way to “adulthood”. So the lyrics of pure carefree indifference come off as naive rather than witty, goofy, let alone cheeky, arrogant or (God forbid) intellectually provocative. The music is major-key and rock-oriented. In the lead motifs it’s not hard to spot the syrupy, sticky harmony vocal melodies inherited all the way from The Beach Boys. Yep. It’s not far from the truth that everyone who listens to easygoing guitar pop will fall for it. Even though, at their core, Free Energy are bound to drawing on the legacy of classic rock.
The production is excellent and actually shows a lot more inventiveness than the band is capable of cobbling together on its own. The guys try to disguise worn-out rock diapers in a production costume of arrangements built around woodwinds and strings. To a certain extent this does manage to deepen the expressiveness of the compositions and divert attention from the cliché-ridden, trivial, unfelt use of chewed-over riffs. On the other hand, there’s that childish vocal again, trying to force a sense of rebellious mockery with a sort of punk accent, which remains the band’s weaker link.
Still, the quintet manages here and there to tip the scales in favor of a more convincing rock sermon, borrowed from the legacy of classic acts. Songs like Bad Stuff and Two Hearts are such cases. They have something close to the vocal melody accents that dig around in memories of Thin Lizzy’s body of work.
The debut doesn’t hide its heavily pop-flavored production, despite the aforementioned “rocking and rolling”. You can also get a typical rock n’ roll riff, driven over a rhythm deepened by the archaic trick of hand claps. With all that optimistic cheer of happy melos, the pop element comes across even more confidently in such a production (Light Love).
However you turn it and however hard you hunt for the hollowness in the band’s debut, it’s a comfort that this isn’t the whining of “emotionally frightened” MTV cocker spaniels and the unconvincing mashing of punk with the cheerful nature of the human spirit (good morning to all you Green Day clones), but a blend of optimism and classic rock foundations, which get along with each other far more confidently and convincingly. It was, it is and it will be. So dragging clichés out of mothballs is justified at this point (at least occasionally). Looking for common ground between the Rolling Stones’ roguishness and Free Energy’s childishness would still be going over the line of good taste and overdoing it, but the “party moment”, trivial expression, rock directness minus the “cheekiness” of the immortal rock giants, is easier to forgive in Free Energy’s case, given the impoverished expressive offering of commercial acts in 2010. After all, the album’s closer Wild Wind is especially convincing, and with its lazy rhythm and effective integration of old-school-sounding Elton John-style keyboards it brings “Stuck On Nothing” to a decent finish, even if it leaves a taste of pop behind. But in Free Energy’s case, forget anything that smells of the explosiveness of bands like Airbourne. Sadly.
The question is where the band will manage to steer itself in the future. Toward harder sounds, or will they pile on even more powdered sugar with baking powder and other sweeteners. One thing is undeniable. Despite the carefully controlled production that carries “Suck On Nothing”, the guys don’t hide the fact that they’re quality musicians who conjure up the real rock power of expression, the spirit and essence of Free Energy, only on concert stages. The direction going forward remains a mystery. Sticking to the waters of the debut will quickly lead to self-repetition and a loss of any expressive credibility on future releases.
Lineup
Paul Sprangers – vocals
Geoff Bucknam – guitar
Evan Wells – guitar
Scott Wells – bass
Nick Shuminsky – drums
Production
James Murphy
Track list
1. Free Energy (4:42)
2. Dream City (3:21)
3. Bang Pop (3:41)
4. All I Know (4:23)
5. Bad Stuff (5:44)
6. Dark Trance (5:17)
7. Young Hearts (2:43)
8. Light Love (3:46)
9. Hope Child (4:24)
10.Wild Winds (6:26)
