Capture/Release
V2, 2005
rating: 4/5
reviewer: tamec


London's the Rakes are the latest products of the British post-punk hype machine that's produced Franz Ferdinand, the Futureheads, Bloc Party, and Maximo Park in the last couple of years. The Rakes are from the same city scene as the Bloc Party boys and have been generating buzz in 2005 on the strength of early singles including "22 Grand Job" and "Retreat," and producing reports of a stellar live show centered on Alan Donohoe's antics and the guitar "genius" of Matthew Swinnerton. But of course as band after band emerges from the same scene, targeting approximately the same audience and playing approximately the same sort of music, it becomes harder and harder to distinguish one from another, and, more importantly, to care enough to bother listening. For this band, there's an added, unforeseen challenge that might come into play shortly: a Minneapolis indie band of the same name recently released their own debut LP, which is also actually pretty good. So do these Rakes manage to differentiate themselves?

Pretty well, in fact. Capture/Release, like Bloc Party's Silent Alarm, portrays a band that, while taking more than a couple cues from their peers and overt influences, also demonstrates a deceptively mature ear for quality. The Rakes are more rock-oriented than their poppier, dancier peers; this difference lends credence to the rumors of the Rakes' live adroitness. By contrast, the Futureheads are too cute, Maximo Park too self-consciously dapper, Bloc Party's intelli-political message too confused. Capture/Release's first three tracks are perhaps its most immediate, the three singles "Strasbourg," "Retreat," and "22 Grand Job" blowing past in just over seven minutes, with the ultra-condensed punk brainstorm of "Retreat" leading the way. The Rakes don't slow down till "Binary Love," which itself is at least a mid-tempo rocker, before getting quick and menacing again on the record's longest track, the 4-minute "Animals."

If you're familiar with the touchstones, you'll know roughly what to expect from the Rakes. Yes, they're another punky, dancey English band, but they're aware of the stakes at this point in the game and demonstrate the urgency of their existence all over Capture/Release. It's impossible not to conceive a massive sophomore slump for all of these bands, but the Rakes may have made their genre's most concise mission statement yet.

1. Strasbourg
2. Retreat
3. 22 Grand Job
4. Open Book
5. The Guilt
6. Binary Love
7. Animals
8. Violet
9. T-Bone
10. Terror
11. Work Work Work (Pub Club Sleep)