This self titled debut is possibly one of the worst records that I’ve heard in a long time. Everything about this album is hackneyed and unoriginal. There is nothing redeeming to be found on any track. I don’t normally dismiss an artist outright based on one release but I’m quite happy to do so in this case.
Electric President are painful to listen to. They are one of those annoying bands that ape an already mediocre artist (in this case it is mainly the likes of Beck or The Eels that get the class A turd dropped on them). Electric President sounds like a run of the mill busker being given a few thousand dollars and a studio full of toys to play with. Any effect or drum loop that can be used, will be used. The songs change rhythm and direction more often than Superman changes his clothes. Most of the time the music seems to change just for the sake of it or because the manual says “insert middle eight here.” Granted the production is clean and clear, it sounds like the producer at least knew what he was doing but couldn’t control the whims of the artist. A good production is useless when the material is this weak. Before the first track “Good Morning, Hypocrite” finishes I am ready to turn the CD off as the chuck everything at the song and see if it sticks approach fails miserably.
A record like this can be saved with good lyrics and a talented vocalist. Electric President is miles from salvation. The lyrics are clichéd, contrived and awkward. On “Grand Machine No. 12,” Ben Cooper sings: “We’re all just part of someone’s elaborate plan/Just pieces of some grandiose scheme/But we’ll do our jobs til we break down and fall;” which flows about as efficiently as a concrete river. Cooper’s voice is whiny and his singing is horrendously paced, full of breathy pauses that accent his nasal vocals even more, he can’t get through a line without some weird inflections yet on some of the tracks he does these bizarre rapid fire deliveries without stopping for air. What is worse is that most songs multitrack his singing so that there is this terrible noise doing harmonies with itself. I just know that Electric President sat around listening to Beach Boys records all day before recording and then tried to emulate their style of harmonies and off kilter instrumentation. The only thing they’ve emulated is a mess.
Electric President have made an appalling album. Not only would I be very surprised to hear a worse album this year but I’d be quite frightened to think that such a thing could exist.
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